Guardian's Light
by TimeLordSPARTAN
Summary: Charles is a warrior. A thinker. A technologist and a mechanic. A genius in his own right. But above all, Charles keeps his word. And thanks to an oath sworn long ago, Charles is, first and foremost, a guardian. "Ego clypeus, cultellus aestatis, defensor innocentium. Hoc animae deputatur. Ego sum Tutorem." Features sixteen OC's, four based on XCOM and two based on Mass Effect.
1. Charles Xiao Long

In a dark room somewhere on Remnant, a screen flickers on.

[Tactical Analytical Intelligence database accessed]

 **TAI** Greetings. Please identify.

 **{USER}** CH4R113_X140_10N9

 **{PASS}** Ru8Y_R053

 **TAI** Welcome back, sir. Please, peruse my memories. You know what to do if you want to copy anything to an external drive.

 **CH4R113** Access J0urn41

 **TAI** Accessing memory block codenamed J0urn41. Please specify an entry.

 **CH4R113** Y10M03D25

 **TAI** Thank you, sir. Accessing journal entry for eight years, eight months and twelve days after my genesis.

[Journal entry Y10M03D25]

The screen displays a boy, sixteen years of age, with unkempt black hair, pale blue eyes and rectangular-framed glasses. he was wearing an unzipped navy blue zip-up hoodie with a pale blue lining over a zip-up shirt of the same colour as said lining. All this was over a white T-shirt.

"Well," the boy began with a sigh, "it's been eight years, eight months and twelve days, and I'm still keeping this journal despite everything that's happened. First Raven disappeared without a trace when I was one and Yang was two, leaving Taiyang a depressed wreck having to deal with two kids. Luckily I was pretty mature even back then for some reason. Then Summer came into our lives, and Taiyang was happy again. Ruby was born, and we became the happy family of five. Then, five years after that, Summer died, and all the happiness we had built up came crashing down. I threw myself fully into my work, finally finishing TAI's hardware and building the basic software that I hypothesised would eventually grow into a fully-fledged Artificial Intelligence. I began to keep a journal using a reserved portion of TAI's solid-state memory drive, and for some reason I kept doing so ever since.

But enough ancient history.

In more recent news, Ruby and I somehow managed to get ourselves into Beacon early! Honestly, I have no idea what went through the headmaster's mind, doing that. Then again, Ruby and I are at the top of our year levels and have beaten quite a few from higher years…" The boy shrugged. "Or maybe his reasons are just beyond the ken of us 'mere mortals'." He made quotation marks with his hands as he said this.

"Anyway, the two of us interrupted a Dust robbery led by Roman Torchwick and some thugs who looked like they were from Hei Xiong's gang. Unfortunately, as we were about to capture Torchwick, a couple of mysterious allies showed themselves. The first was a woman - I couldn't see her face, but she wore a dress that was heavily infused with Burn Dust - who fought Glynda Goodwitch in a fair fight and managed to hold her off. The other was even more of an enigma. He had red hair and a padlock goatee, he wore angular gold sunglasses which gave him a permanent frown, and fought using a pair of bladed shields and some kind of three-dimensional manoeuvring system. The worst part? He managed to completely annihilate me. He was utterly unpredictable, just when In thought he was establishing a pattern his style would completely shift, throwing me off-balance again. TAI ran an image of his face through the VPD database und couldn't get anything but a "classified: threat level omega" out of it. Omega level threats have the ability, drive and/or intention necessary to potentially destroy an entire kingdom - I thought I was the only one, but apparently not. The woman could not be identified without a face to recognise." He sighed again. "Either way, Ruby and I'll be going to Beacon tomorrow. But I don't think I'll be using the airship…"

The video file ends and the screen flickers off.

* * *

(Music: Interstate Love Song)

At 00:03, the words "TimeLordSPARTAN presents" fade in

At 00:11, the words "RWBY: Guardian's Light" fade in beneath it.

At 00:14, both fade back to the black and the sound of a motorcycle engine begins to fade in, reaching its peak at 00:16.

At 00:17, the screen suddenly changes to an aerial view of the ocean with some kind of craft streaking across it, leaving a wake disproportionately large in comparison to it's size.

At 00:26, the camera zooms down to follow the vehicle, which turns out to consist of two wheels as tall as a seated person set in front of and behind a fighter cockpit which is open at the sides.

The rider of the strange, military-looking motorcycle was the person from the video journal, with a pale blue visor over his eyes. A black kitten which looked almost as if it were made of shadow sat on his right shoulder, fur ruffling in the intense wind caused by the motorcycle's speed - which was just under mach one. The motorcycle's speakers were blaring music out at nearly eardrum-bursting volume.

 _Waiting,_

 _On a sunday afternoon,_

 _For what I've read between the lines…_

"Your lies!" The boy sang along as the kitten let out a yowl that somehow perfectly matched both the rhythm and pitch of the line.

 _Feeling,_

 _Like a hand in rusted shame,_

 _So do you laugh with us or cry?_

"Reply!"

At 01:07, the motorcycle zooms past the camera, which follows behind it from a distance of about ten meters.

At 01:12, the music skips forward to 02:58 and plays to the end as the motorcycle disappears into the distance.

* * *

Charlie watched as the airship came in to land, leaning against his assault cycle with his Shadowcat Blake sitting primly on his shoulder. TAI was currently using the assault cycle's speaker system to converse with the Shadowcat, which was a very strange sight to almost anyone who might be watching.

 _"Yes, I understand that you perceive yourself as a higher being than humans but-"_

"Mrow!?"

 _"Yes, you perceive yourself that way. It does not logically follow that-"_

"Rowl! Mrow meow!"

 _"That is an assumption that may one day get you killed, Blake."_

The Shadowcat hissed at the AI, then turned to watch the airship land, ignoring every attempt by TAI to salvage the situation.

"You won't win this argument, TAI," Charlie informed the dejected artificial intelligence, "Blake is quite literally the most stubborn being I have ever encountered." The kitten-sized animal swatted him on the ear (She was just playing, though - her claws were retracted) before jumping off his shoulder, growing until she was similar in size to a large dog before she landed. Chuckling, he reached down and rubbed behind her ears. Blake pushed her head into his knuckles, purring contentedly.

Ruby and Yang were among the first off the airship. While Charlie greeted them, TAI was analysing the other new entrants. He ran images through the VPD database, searching for any wiped criminal records (Attending Beacon wiped the criminal record of the attendee due to a deal the headmaster had made with the Council)

He came up with three criminal records.

[Aeris Tempest. 116,800 counts of petty theft, seventeen counts of retaliatory assault. Judging by the black wings on his back, he is an avian Faunus - is likely capable of flight. Unless his teammates are prejudiced, Aeris should be a huge advantage to his team.]

[Flare Tempest. 742 counts of public drunkenness and 459 counts of assault (while drunk). Appears to be a lupine Faunus - suggests mixed parentage for both herself and Aeris. Personality profile indicates she is utterly mad - she will definitely fit the berserker role of her team.]

[Finally, Sterling Argent. Rap sheet as long as he is tall, though nothing worse than assaulting a police officer during an escape. Lived on the street before coming here - probably has a good knowledge of some less than legal skills.]

TAI filed these away for future reference, then retasked his primary focus to the conversation between the three siblings. He was just in time for Yang to abandon them and for Charlie to knock on his front wheel guard.

"Hey, TAI, think you can get the assault cycle to the garages?"

 _"Do you really have to ask, sir?"_ he revved up the bike, doing a 180 degree spin before streaking off toward the garages.

* * *

After a rather… interesting… speech from professor Ozpin, the new entrants migrated to the ballroom where bedrolls had already been set out. Charlie chose the bedroll next to Ruby's, slipping his combat visor on. The visor lit up, and TAI's voice spoke into his right ear.

" _Good evening, sir. I assume you wish to review my findings regarding past criminal activities of new entrants?"_

"Yes. Have you identified any?"

 _"Three, sir. I have also identified a Runemaster and a potential telekinetic, and have located four unidentifiable individuals."_

"Start with the three, then hit me with the rest."

 _"Very good, sir. Individual one is one Aeris Tempest. Avian Faunus, likely flight-capable. He has committed large quantity of petty thefts - usually stealing large amounts of food before vanishing for days or weeks at a time. He has also committed close to twenty counts of assault - usually in an attempt to protect his sister, Flare. His psychological profile indicates he is level headed unless his sister is attacked - which makes him rather similar to you, sir."_

"Flattery will get you nowhere with me, TAI. I don't swing that way."

The AI emitted a sound similar to a chuckle.

 _"Understood, sir. Second, we have Flare Tempest, the sister of Aeris Tempest. Lupine Faunus, which suggests the two have mixed parentage, with predominant traits being ears and teeth. Her crimes include public drunkenness and assault - with most of those assaults being while she was drunk.. psychological profile indicates she is dangerously unstable - I recommend keeping her well away from miss Rose."_

"Good idea. What about the last one?"

 _"Sterling Argent. Human. Chose his name himself, since he grew up on the streets. is an accomplished thief, and has been caught trespassing in areas locked by key and/or electronic lock, indicating a proficiency with hacking and lock picking. I would be wary around him, as his psychological profile suggests he will do anything to survive._

 _The Runemaster I have identified is named Sol Lux. Like most rune users, he appears thinner than most. His mark is likely the rune Sol, which represents the sun. I would recommend that you get yourself placed on the same team as him._

 _The telekinetic is called Lavender Periwinkle. She appears to be dressed in a form-fitting bodysuit which covers as much skin as possible. scans indicate the presence of a large amount of scar tissue beneath, including a series of marks on her left forearm spelling the word 'monster'. Potentially very psychologically damaged._

 _These are the unidentifiable individuals."_

Four images displayed themselves on the HUD. On the left was a boy who looked like a perfect half-and-half fusion of human and cheetah. He wore what appeared to be armoured trousers with a pair of glowing green pistols attached at the hips. To the right of the cheetah-boy was a girl who resembled a similar fusion between human and fox. Like the boy, she wore armoured trousers, though she also wore an armoured garment similar to a crop top. Both had nothing covering their arms save for a bracer on their right wrists. To the right of them was a boy with black limbs which resembled mechanical musculature. He was sipping something from a very large thermos. To the right of thermos guy was another boy with similar limbs. Both wore a one-piece armoured bodysuit which covered their remaining tissue from the chin down.

 _"Their faces do not match anything on any accessible database, which is odd considering their unique appearance."_

"What exactly am I looking at here, TAI?"

 _"The first two appear to be very extreme examples of cheetah and fox faunus. Slightly deeper scans indicate cybernetic implants within their tails which appear to include a large retractable spike, along with implants in their hands which grant them claws."_

"Sounds like someone really went all-out trying to turn them into living weapons. What are their armaments?"

 _"Unknown. The weapons appear almost artful in shape, and glow green in many places. I can speculate on their function, but the projectiles are completely impossible to deduce from the results of your scanner badge."_

"Sounds like I'll need to ask them, then. What _can_ you deduce?"

 _"The female appears to carry a sniper rifle and a pistol, while the male carries what looks like a pair of pistols."_

' _So, a sniper and an assault, similar to Yang and Ruby's team dynamic. Interesting.'_

"And the other two?" The two faunus disappeared from the visor's screen, and the other two grew to fill the empty space.

 _"These two were both easier and more difficult to figure out. They share almost identical cybernetic augmentations, though their armament appears to be different. Their limbs have been replaced with a polymorphic structure composed of carbon nanotubes. How they control such a thing when they do not contain motors or control systems of any kind is beyond me. The cybernetics are bonded to their nervous system through these 'docking ports' for lack of a better term."_ The shoulders and hips of the boys flashed as TAI explained. _"If my hypothesis is correct - and they usually are - these ports could be used to 'jack in' to any system designed to use them."_

"Tai… Are we talking mechs here?"

 _"Proximity alert. deactivating briefing protocols and depolarising visor. The individuals are here."_

The visor cleared, revealing Ruby engaged in an avid conversation with one of the cybernetic ally enhanced boys - who was surprisingly keeping up with every word - while the remaining three were staring at Charlie. He cleared his throat.

"Uhh… Can I help you?"

The cheetah boy stepped forward, and Charlie quickly got to his feet, stretching.

"Colonel Proteus Deleo," the boy responded, holding out his hand. Charlie grasped it cautiously, remembering TAI's description of the cybernetic claws in the fingers.

"Charles Xiao Long." The boy quirked an eyebrow.

"You certainly don't resemble your sisters."

"Adopted."

"Ah. Where are my manners?" he suddenly spoke slightly louder. He released Charlie's hand hand indicated the other two.

"This is Major Koby Alexander," the cybernetically augmented man with the oversized thermos raised his hand and waved slightly before he took a sip from his thermos, "Major Aina Kawaguchi," The fox girl nodded before returning to cleaning her weapon. Charlie noticed that while it was disassembled it had no glowing components. _'Must only work when it's assembled.'_

"And your younger sister is speaking to Lieutenant Richard 'Leroy' Jenkins." Charlie chuckled slightly at the nickname, and Colonel Deleo quirked the same eyebrow again.

"Sorry, it's just that his nickname is literally Leroy Jenkins." Deleo held his expression for a moment before he dissolved into a fit of laughter as well.

"He chose the nickname himself, and it just seemed so fitting for him, considering he's an Assault."

"A what now?"

"Our unit divides us into four classes: Assault, Support, Sniper and Heavy. And that's about all I can tell you. Classified information, I'm sure you understand." Charlie nodded, then posed the question he really wanted to ask.

"So what drew you four over here?"

"Overheard you talking to yourself, caught a few snippets of what you were saying. How did you know about MEC's?"

"Everyone knows about mechs. They're in about a hundred different shows and-"

"Not mechs. MEC's. Mechanised Exoskeletal Cybersuits. They're what Koby and Leroy were originally meant to pilot, before the polymorph combat augs came into being."

"Really? Huh. I was just speculating on whether they could pilot a modified mech, that's all."

"Ah. Shit. Forget I ever mentioned MEC's. Please?"

"No worries, friend. No worries. So, you're part of some super-secret black ops group, huh?"

Deleo smirked.

"Classified."

"Oooooooof course it is."

"Well, I should probably drag Leroy away from your sister before they wake up the very few people who have managed to fall asleep."

Charlie looked around, and TAI highlighted five people sleeping and one very pissed-off looking girl with a clear motif of snow glaring at the the weapon nuts. TAI spoke up helpfully, identifying the individual.

 _"Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Dust Company and very rich. Suggest you refrain from antagonising one with such major pull."_

"Oh yeah," Charlie agreed, both with TAI and with Deleo. "Looks like miss Schnee over there is getting annoyed at not being allowed to get her beauty sleep." Colonel Deleo just chuckled.

"Maybe we should give them a few more minutes?" A shake of the head was Charlie's response.

"Never get on a Schnee's bad side. it's a _very_ bad idea."

* * *

In the dark room, the screen reactivates.

[Tactical Analytical Intelligence database accessed]

 **TAI** Greetings. Please identify.

 **{USER}** CH4R113_X140_10N9

 **{PASS}** Ru8Y_R053

 **TAI** Welcome back, sir. Please, peruse my memories. You know what to do if you want  
to copy anything to an external drive.

 **CH4R113** Access J0urn41

 **TAI** Accessing memory block codenamed J0urn41. Please specify an entry.

 **CH4R113** Y10M03D26

 **TAI** Thank you, sir. Accessing journal entry for eight years, eight months and thirteen  
days after my genesis.

[Journal entry Y10M03D26]

Charlie's face fills the screen again.

"Well," he chuckled, "Here we are. Ruby, Yang and I are all at Beacon, despite the fact that, logically, I should be a year away and Ruby should be two years out. Met some interesting people, including a group that seem to be some kind of black ops group - note to self, try to keep them away from Ruby, they could be dangerous. Got a few individuals I will be watching in case they make a move, as well as one to try and help and one whom I definitely want on my team.

Initiation's tomorrow, and from what Taiyang says its going to involve being shot off a cliff at high speed with virtually no warning. Some people here I have a few doubts about being able to land safely," here he lets out a cough which sounds suspiciously like "Jaune Arc", "but I have complete faith in both Yang and Ruby at the least. My landing strategy is already all figured out - and I don't think anyone will fail to hear it at the least." A voice, and a flying pillow, interrupt him.

"Go to sleep, Charlie! It's almost midnight!" Charlie chuckles.

"You stay up longer very often, Yang."

"Go die in a hole." With another chuckle, Charlie turns back to the camera.

"Charlie Xiao Long, signing off."

Once again, the screen flickers before deactivating.

* * *

A lamp clicked on, revealing a muscled man in his prime, with red hair, a padlock goatee, and blazing red eyes. He wore black trousers and a black tank top, and his face was set in a thoughtful frown as he stared at the now blank computer screen.

"The boy shows promise," he mused, "but is it enough?"

The man shook his head.

"Either way, I'll soon find out. Nature always has its way. The weak die. The strong survive."

A pale hand reached down and plucked an angular pair of golden sunglasses off of the desk.

"Keep your wits about you, Charles Xiao Long."

He put the glasses on, giving his face the appearance of a permanent frown.

"For Nemesis has his eye on you."

* * *

 **End credits music: Witch Factory - Adrian von Ziegler**

(Link: (add to the end of youtube in the address bar) /watch?v=4Y6BDbkYNDE)


	2. Partners

Charlie couldn't help but chuckle at the sight of a clearly hyperactive girl talking a mile a minute while simultaneously eating a stack of pancakes. The girl had been speaking non-stop since her friend, a boy in green with a purple streak in his black hair, had awoken. He turned his attention back to the four operatives seated on the other side of the table from himself, Yang, and Ruby. All four of them were eating steaks, despite it being breakfast. When Charlie had asked why, Colonel Deleo simply responded with something about a "meld substance" in their bodies before he abruptly clammed up, realised he had told them something classified, and begged them to forget he said anything. He felt like he needed to discuss _something_ with them, since the silence at their end of the room was getting awkward.

"So, Proteus," he began, "since we're going to be attending the same school and potentially cooperating on missions, perhaps you could give us the rundown on your abilities?" Deleo shrugged.

"I don't see why not. The first thing you need to understand about the four of us is, we come from a land where the Grimm were on the verge of wiping us out. We were desperate. So, the military came up with the Feral enhancement procedure and the cybernetic augmentation procedure. From the cyber-aug procedure you get individuals like Koby and Leroy, unstoppable living juggernauts who can fight for hours without tiring or slowing down. From the FEP, well… That's how Aina and I came to exhibit the traits we do."

"Hang on," Yang interrupted, "I thought you and her were faunus?" Deleo shook his head.

"There were no faunus where we come from. Regardless, both programmes managed to turn the tide, and eventually we began to push the Grimm back to the current stalemate. After that, something happened, and we ended up in Vale. Further details about that event are classified." At their nods, Deleo began the real explanation.

"Ferals like Aina and myself possess perfect vision, regardless of light levels. Our sense of smell is enhanced to well beyond the point of any living creature, allowing us to identify everyone and everything around us by scent alone. Our hearing allows us to eavesdrop on a whispered conversation from across a crowded room. We run faster, jump higher, hit harder, and balance better than any human. We possess claws and tail spikes made from a titanium alloy and surgically implanted into our bone structure, making us living weapons. Oh, and our taste buds are altered, causing us to find plant-based food unpalatable and leading us to particularly relish iron-rich red meats and sickeningly sweet food and drink."

"Is that important?" Ruby asked, while Yang struggled to understand how someone could willingly volunteer for such a procedure.

"It is when Aina used to be a vegetarian. You see, the bio-mechanical nanomachines in our bloodstreams which prevent our bodies from rejecting the foreign tissue and cybernetics are self-replicating, and therefore require a large amount of animal proteins, glucose, and iron. Iron and proteins come from the meat," he indicated the rare steak sitting before him, "and glucose, well… Let's just say the coffee we're drinking is about seven parts sugar to one part coffee." As if to punctuate his point, he drank a long draught from his mug, setting the previously full vessel on the table, empty. Deleo grinned, glanced at his teammates, realised they had finished, and shrugged. Then his head shot down to the half-eaten steak, grabbing it and throwing it a foot or two into the air before he caught it in his mouth again and swallowed it whole. Koby handed him a napkin, which he used to wipe the blood from his face, and the four stood in perfect synchronisation, turning and walking out of the cafeteria.

"Well," Yang commented, "that was… interesting."

* * *

Charlie began to empty his locker, preparing himself for the fight ahead. First, his bracers. Each one was two centimetres thick at their thickest, containing twelve shuriken which were folded to save space. Each shuriken was attached via a very thin, very strong wire to its own micro-winch. The basic concept of the shuriken was to distract and hamper enemies, while also allowing vertical manoeuvrability.

Next, he retrieved twelve metal cylindrical objects, each one with a purple "F" on the cap. These were Force Dust phials, specifically designed to stand up to ten times the impact a reinforced Schnee Dust phial could withstand.

Force Dust is a secondary Dust type, formed by merging Burn, Shock and Petrification Dusts in the correct concentrations. When triggered, Force Dust generates a powerful shockwave. Normally, this is useless except as a concussive grenade, which was its original use. Then, discoveries were made allowing Force Dust's concussive wave to be directed, generating shockwaves with even more power in a single direction.

Charlie saw potential in such a Dust type, which lead to his infusing the skin on his forearms and calves with Dust, allowing him to punch harder than an angry Yang and blast shockwaves from his feet, launching himself in the opposite direction. No-one in his adoptive family liked the idea, so he did it himself, in secret. By the time Taiyang and his sisters found out, he had completed the very dangerous procedure alone, and the results were irreversible. The Dust was infused into his skin. The tattoos only lasted for fourteen charges each, and required a refill of Dust after they drained. Charlie had thought of this, however, and he placed refilling points on each tattoo. This meant that he could refill a tattoo during combat as quickly as one could change the magazine on a firearm. The phials went into the receptacles stitched onto the inside of his vest.

Finally, he retrieved the item he was most proud of, despite the fact that he used it only sparingly. Roughly the length of a ruler, and a little over half as wide, the object resembled a sword hilt attached to a slightly intricate rectangular piece of metal. The reason this was his most prized and protected possession was not because of its impressive mecha-shifitng capabilities - the weapon expanded to a sword with a total length of just under two point one metres - but rather, because of the edge and the time and effort that went into its construction. The weapon, a large sword, had an edge which was a single atom thick, granting it the cutting power necessary to sever anything short of Elder Deathstalker Chitin, Giant Nevermore feather (unless it is fired toward him, in which case the weapon can bisect it from tip to tail if positioned exactly right) and Burrower Armour. With enough force, he could stab the weapon through anything except Burrower Armour, which was utterly impenetrable. Such a weapon was utterly lethal in every way possible, capable of annihilating Aura on contact. Even if the blade didn't kill outright, the target would suffer Aura exhaustion and bleed out before they awoke. The only thing that the weapon could be used on without being morally reprehensible was the Grimm. Charlie knew this. That was why he was bringing it along - the weapon was also one of the few things that could kill a Burrower, and Charlie seemed to be a magnet for the things.

Meanwhile, Ruby was gushing over finally being able to let Crescent Rose do the talking. Charlie knew the feeling - his fists spoke as often as his mouth when it came to what he defended.

* * *

 **Music: Attack on Titan OST - Rittai Kidou**

 **00:00**

The camera flies over Beacon, revealing a large, lush green forest

 **00:08**

The view changes to one of the large cliff face from the perspective of something on the ground in the forest. The creature - whatever it is - begins to move toward the cliff.

 **00:26**

The view changes to a high angle shot of all the first year students standing on metal squares, assuming positions which indicate they are about to be launched.

 **00:36**

The view changes again, panning along the front of the row of students.

 **00:43**

The view pan reaches Charlie, then stops. He is currently standing at ease, checking his wristwatch every few seconds.

 **00:52**

The camera is suddenly following just behind him, indicating a time skip has occurred. His position is clearly not designed to keep him in the air for long, as he has streamlined his body as much as possible.

 **01:01**

The camera displays different individuals every few seconds, including Proteus, Koby, Aina, and Leroy, along with the individuals that TAI pointed out to Charlie.

 **01:29 - Skip to 04:32**

Charlie's eyes widen as he nears the trees, before he performs a front half somersault and slams his right foot into the trunk of the approaching tree. a purple blast emanates from the sole of his boot and he launches away from it, shattering the trunk in the process. He repeats this with each tree he comes close to hitting, steadily reducing his momentum.

 **04:55**

Charlie curls up slightly, before firing a blast from his feet and his hands all at once, dumping his remaining momentum and creating a large crater below him

 **05:01 - cut the music**

* * *

As the dust created by his violent landing settled, Charlie stepped out of the crater. He scratched Blake, who was currently the size of a kitten again, behind the ears before flicking a speck of dirt off his vest and turning to see his landing path.

The path he had taken to land consisted of twenty-six trees which were missing their top halves, along with a smoking crater. The trees were sheared off in such a way that one could place something on top and they would have a perfectly balanced ramp leading to the crater.

"Yep," the guardian muttered, "I still got it."

With that, he turned and disappeared into the thick underbrush.

* * *

Sol flew through the air, focussing not on landing, but on the runes forming in each hand.

 _Sol. The sun. Most common uses are as a source of light, and as a weak fireball. More important now, however, is its less common uses. Sol is the rune of energy. In this case, I need directed kinetic energy. Focus. Impose my will upon the shapes forming in my palms. Sol is eager to please. I infuse the newly directed runes with power, and attach them to my feet. Focus. Impose my will upon the shapes. Sol is still eager to please. I infuse the newly directed runes with power and attach them to my palms. Finally, I form one more rune. Úr, the Mighty Ox, rune of strength. Those trees are getting pretty close- no! Focus! Impose my will upon the shape forming between my hands. Úr offers a small degree of resistance to alteration, but this purpose is not far from its original one, so the resistance is minimal. I infuse the newly directed rune with power and attach it to my chest, linking it with the other runes. Úr is now an amplifier._

 _The trees approach._

 _Focus on Úr._

 _Charge it._

Golden jets of flame blasted from Sol's palms and feet, sending him rocketing forward and up.

 _Too much charge! Lower the energy…_

Sol began to slow as the jets became smaller. Once he had the energy level right, he pushed his hands in front of him, arresting his forward motion and setting himself up to slowly lower to the forest floor. About a metre above the ground, he severed the connections between Úr and the Sols on his limbs. The sudden cutoff caused all five runes to dissolve rapidly, dropping him to land on one knee. He checked his satchel.

 _Thirty Hagalls. Twenty Sols. Ten Isas. Ten Tyrs. Three Thurises. One Bjarkan. One Raedo. My Runecarver. Everything is where it should be. Good._

A bush rustled behind him, accompanied by a growl that chilled his spine.

 _Ursa. Most often found in pairs._

Without another thought, he pulled a stone with a symbol in the shape of an H with two horizontals from his satchel, bound an Úr to it to amplify the effect, charged it and flung the now brightly-glowing stone square at the bush that had rustled. The resulting explosion was deafening.

* * *

Charlie skidded to a stop. _Detonation, high intensity. Launch trajectories of other students places Sol Lux as the likely source. Lux wouldn't muse an explosive rune to land unless he's an utter fool - he has most likely encountered some Grimm. Situation offers potential for partnership._

He quickly changed direction and sprinted toward the source of the explosion.

Bursting through the trees, he was greeted by the sight of four Ursai trying to hit a single, rather scrawny-looking boy. Said boy was performing impressive acrobatics to dodge their massive paws, flinging small bursts of energy shaped like ancient letters at the creatures. As he watched, the boy sent a dull green rune shaped like an arrow at the foot of one of the Ursai, causing it to roar in pain. This was exactly what the boy wanted, as he quickly flung an orange, H-shaped rune directly into the creature's maw. The explosion created sent pieces of Grimm armour in every direction as the head became a shower of gore.

Charlie pulsed Aura through his calf tattoos, blasting himself forward and toward the next Ursa. Force Dust-enhanced punches quickly beat the creature into submission before he grasped its head and twisted it one hundred and eighty degrees with a sickening crack. Leaving the Ursa to dissolve as Grimm do, he ran toward the final Ursa, which was sneaking up behind the other boy who was engaging another one. Detaching a shuriken as he ran, Charlie popped the throwing star into its standard form and flung it just so. The weapon hurtled past the Ursa's face, drawing its attention to Charlie before curving around as the Grimm turned. The shuriken orbited around the Ursa's neck once before burying itself into the bear-like creature's throat. The Ursa tried to roar, but it only managed a choking sound before Charlie wrenched his arm back, the thin, almost-invisible wire retracting on its winch inside his bracer. The shuriken quickly retraced its own path, slitting the Ursa's throat and leaving it to fall to the grass, dead.

The other boy raised a dark blue rune shaped like a bird's foot between himself and the Ursa, letting its paw smash into what turned out to be a protective barrier as he quickly strung together four yellow runes shaped like lightning bolts with a silver rune shaped like an N. As the shield collapsed, he quickly flung the runic array at the Grimm, screaming a single word.

"SOL!"

The array hit a split second before the yellow energy that burst from his mouth did, immolating the creature in a massive fireball. The boy watched the Grimm for a moment, making sure it was dead. When the creature's body began to dissolve, he nodded and flung a light blue rune shaped like a hook made from a pair of straight lines at the patch of fire. The rune burst into a large quantity of water, extinguishing the flames abruptly. Then he turned to face Charlie.

"Thanks for the help back there, I would've been a goner if you hadn't shown up. Name's Sol, Sol Lux." he extended his right hand toward Charlie, who quickly caught sight of the lightning-shaped mark, almost like a golden burn, on the inside of the boy's wrist.

"Charles Xiao Long," he replied, grasping the offered hand, "my friends call me Charlie, though."

Sol nodded.

"I guess this means we're partners now, huh?"

"Looks like it," Charlie noted. Sol looked around.

"I know professor Ozpin talked about a path, but I can't see anything but trees around here."

Charlie strained his ears for a moment, then shook his head.

"On the plus side, no Grimm nearby." Sol cocked his head, an almost birdlike gesture.

"How can you be sure?"

"Birdsong. The forest always goes quiet around those abominations."

Sol mouthed a silent "Oh" while nodding his head. He looked around.

"So, uh… Which way do we go?"

"North," Charlie replied, turning on his heel and heading in the direction he stated. Sol jogged slightly to catch up.

"Uh… Charlie?"

"What?"

"How do you know which way is north?"

"Eyes are for looking, memory is for remembering, brain is for thinking, and sense of direction is for finding which way to go."

"Uhh… What?" Charlie sighed.

Today was going to be a long day.


	3. Facade

Theme:

AoT - Attack On Titan Instrumental Theme

Where there is smoke,

There will soon be a fire!

 _(Where there's smoke there'll soon be fire) X4_

Where there's smoke there'll soon be fire,

Play with fire and you will be burned.

Hidden behind dark blue gauntlets,

Guardian of the innocent.

Even his great Aura may fade,

Grimm attack and darkness closes.

Where there's smoke there'll soon be fire,

Play with fire and you will be burned.

Beware, he will take you down,

With a punch,

Or a kick,

Or a thrown shuriken!

Even although he holds himself back,

He is a force to be reckoned with!

Where there is smoke there will soon be a fire,

Play with the flames and you will be burned,

Go all out or you're,

All far too easy,

He strikes as hard as a

COMET!

Where there is smoke there will soon be a fire,

Play with the flames and you will be burned,

Go all out or you're,

All far too easy,

He will take you all down!

 _(Where there's smoke there'll soon be fire) X7_

 _(Play with it, you'll burn!)_

 _Short instrumental_

Where there is smoke there,

Soon will be fire,

Play with fire and you will be burned!

Hidden behind his,

Dark blue gauntlets, the

Guardian of the innocent!

Even his bright light,

May fade to the black, when

Grimm attack and darkness closes!

Where there is smoke there,

Soon will be fire,

Play with fire and you will be burned!

Smoke and fire cancel out the,

Air that you need to speak your lies!

When things get serious, he

Slows it all down to plan the fight!

He slows you down,

To plan the fight!

 _(He sees how you will react, and then)_

He plans out the,

Whole fight at once!

 _(And he executes it perfectly.)_

He slows you down,

To plan the fight!

 _(He sees how you will react, and then)_

He plans out the,

Whole fight at once!

 _(And he executes it perfectly)_

Where there is smoke there will soon be a fire,

Play with the flames and you will be burned,

Go all out or you're,

All far too easy,

He strikes as hard as a

COMET!

Where there is smoke there will soon be a fire,

Play with the flames and you will be burned,

Go all out or you're,

All far too easy,

He strikes as hard as a

COMET!

Where there is smoke there will soon be a fire,

Play with the flames and you will be burned,

Go all out or you're,

All far too easy,

He will take you all down!

 _(Where there's smoke there'll soon be fire) X7_

 _(Play with it, and burn!)_

—

Aeris stepped off of the airship, stretching his wings to their full, fourteen-foot span. He had to admit, flying was fun… unless you were sitting in a massive moving room instead of soaring through the open air.

A girl with waist-length red hair and a set of wolf ears stopped next to him.

"Well, brother, we're here." Aeris shook his head.

"You know full well what I think about this, Flare." The girl just grinned at him, before running off toward the auditorium. Aeris followed at a much more sedate pace.

—

Beacon wasn't his first choice of places to go. Hell, it wasn't even in his top fifty. He'd lived outside of the kingdoms ever since he was born. Their father, a raven faunus, had been killed by a nevermore when Aeris was five. His mother, a wolf faunus, had no idea how to take care of him, eventually just looking after Flare. Aeris didn't care. He looked after himself, learning how to protect their isolated little community. Eventually, Flare joined him after their mother also passed, and the two made for an almost unstoppable team. That was until he turned nineteen.

Flare and Aeris had just finished fighting off a Grimm attack - business as usual, really - when the ground began shaking. All of the inhabitants of their little village came screaming out of the gate, stumbling over each other in their haste. Aeris flew over their heads to see what had them so scared - and immediately began herding the inhabitants away from above. Chasing them was a monstrous creature. Easily two hundred meters of rapidly rotating segments arranged along the length of an enormous black worm. At its head was an eight-part segmented mouth that, when opened, revealed at six rows of teeth rotating at high speed in alternating directions around the inside. Though he'd never seen one up close, he knew what it was.

A Burrower.

He knew he couldn't fight it. Hell, Burrowers had easily annihilated armies in the past. He couldn't even get everyone to safety.

—

He didn't manage to save a single man, woman or child. He and Flare were all that was left of their little community. After he managed to limp into Vale, Flare supporting him with her shoulder, the two of them found themselves in VPD custody. Turns out that stealing food to feed yourself and your sister when you have no money isn't a good enough reason. Fortunately (or unfortunately, as the case may be) a solution to their problem was soon presented. Professor Ozpin, headmaster of Beacon Academy, came in person to offer the two of them a place at his school. Aeris was, understandably in his opinion, highly suspicious of the offer. But, of course, his technically insane little sister accepted right off the bat, so he had to go with her just to keep her in line.

—

Speaking of Flare, she had been speaking to a girl in blue short shorts and a similarly coloured tank top. The girl had long blue hair, which flowed as if it were water down her back, and wore no shoes. Her entire outfit gave Aeris the impression that she frequently went swimming. He made his way over to the two girls, just in time to hear Flare cut herself off mid-sentence.

"… Aeris loves me and all, but he's my brother, so that just feels wro-CAAAAAAAAAT!" at that, she burst into flames, rushing past the suddenly bewildered blue-themed girl toward a small white kitten. The kitten let out a surprised yowl before dashing off. All Aeris could do was facepalm, muttering "Dammit, Flare." The girl tilted her head quizzically before speaking.

"I take it you are Aeris?" Aeris sighed, looking at the girl before responding.

"Yeah, that's me. I see you've met my sister."

"Sister? Forgive me, but the two of you couldn't be less alike."

"Yeah, that's what happens when your dad was a raven faunus and your mom was a wolf faunus. Flare got the crazy from dad, and I thankfully got the calmness from mom."

"Raven faunus? So you can fly?" Aeris nodded.

"As for you…" he began, looking her up and down. His raptor vision noted the regular speckling of her skin, as well as the fact that it shone as though it were wet. "I'm gonna say a fish faunus of some kind?"

"Yeah. I've never been sure what fish, though. Comes with some neat advantages, too - I can't drown in the water, and I've never met a better swimmer. Serenity Depth, by the way."

"Pleased to meet you. I wonder how they assign the teams?"

"I asked a rabbit faunus in the year above us - Velvet, I think her name was - and she said it was part of the initiation ceremony."

"Ah, right. The initiation ceremony. Which the headmaster said nothing about when he recruited me and my sister. Here's hoping it's not the lethal kind of initiation."

A powerful explosion echoed the slightly less powerful detonation caused by a girl in a black corset and a red combat skirt sneezing into a cloud of Dust. Before the girl in white, who had been berating the red clad girl, could continue her tirade, a voice drowned her out.

"DAMMIT FLARE!" a voice called back from the source of the fireball.

"Sorry, Aeris!"

—

"Son of a bitch!" Aeris exclaimed as professor Ozpin explained.

They were going to be launched into a forest.

A Grimm-infested forest.

All for the purpose of finding some pre-placed objects located in a ruined temple on the other side of the forest, and then bringing said objects back to the start point.

"That said, the first person you make eye contact with will be your partner for the next four years."

Say WHAT? If there is any sanity to this test, _please_ let it be known now.

"You will be monitored from the moment your feet leave the ground, and Professors Shepard and T'Soni will be on hand to provide assistance within seconds in case anyone looks to be on the brink of injury."

Good. He's not completely insane.

"However, be wary. We have had some unconfirmed sightings of a Burrower in the area."

Shit.

Two spaces down, a boy in a blue vest groaned "I knew it." Ozpin continued as though no-one had spoken.

"So, be on your guard, move swiftly, and do not be afraid to destroy anything in your way… Or you _will_ die, assistance or no assistance. Take your positions, and prepare yourself."

Here we go. Flying time.

—

Aeris soared through the air, wings extended to catch as much lift as possible. Behind him, Flare was a literal flare as she descended from her launch in a ball of fire. Nearby, Serenity's skin rippled as her entire body turned translucent before she became a girl-shaped statue of water. Near to her, a dark-skinned boy fell like a stone, massive warhammer leading his way.

The boy's hammer hit the ground with a reverberating _thoom_ , allowing the rest of his body to flip off of it and land safely. He retrieved the immense weapon one-handed, placing it on his back before heading off into the underbrush.

Serenity's form collapsed into a puddle as soon as it hit the ground, before forming back into her shape and solidifying. She shook her hair out, and dashed into the forest.

Flare laughed hysterically as she neared the ground, pulling her fiery Aura back into herself before unleashing it in a massive explosion as she hit the ground. One red-headed wolf faunus came flying out of the fireball, ears smoking as she continued laughing. She rolled when she hit the ground again, then headed in the general direction of the guy with the massive hammer. Because massive hammers.

Aeris's raptor vision spotted Serenity just below him, and he tucked his wings into a dive. His wings snapped out as he neared the ground, arresting his descent as he landed near to the fish faunus.

"Sup. Partners?" Serenity nodded, her expression as serene as ever.

"Pleased to be working with you… partner."

—

"Hello? Hellooooooo…" Flare called out as she searched for Hammer Boy. A growl was the reply.

"Hammer guy?" A boarbatusk charged out of the bushes. Flare flipped over it nimbly, drawing HotShot, her Twin Grappling Shotgun Swords. "Unless Hammer Boy turns into a boarbatusk, you're in my way. I don't think he can turn into a boarbatusk. Move, or die. Your choice." In response, the Grimm leaped forward, spinning like a high-speed spiked wheel. Flare cartwheeled out of its path.

"You have chosen death! My favourite option! Prepare to receive your eternal reward!" The boarbatusk roared its defiance, allowing Flare to pull the second trigger on one of her shotgun swords. The blade shot out like a bullet from a gun, sinking deep into the back of the boarbatusk's mouth before deploying barbs to hold itself in when the high-powered winch inside the shotgun section retracted at high speed, yanking the now helpless creature back toward the insane wolf faunus. As the blade slotted back into place, she pulled the primary trigger, firing a twelve-gauge Burn shell into the creature's skull, which quickly became a layer of burning goo covering everything within a metre of the epicentre.

—

Dirk Terran was a man of simple tastes, in his opinion. He liked big Grimm, as well as big weapons to kill them with. That was how he ended up as an Arena fighter in was given a basic warhammer to start with, little more than a lump of metal on the end of a big stick. They tested him on the little things first, of course. Beowolves fell like grass before the wind, Ursai were crushed like so many eggs. Then he built DeadRock. A hammer with a head as large as his torso, made of the heaviest materials he could find. He had yet to meet another person strong enough to lift it, let alone fling it about with impunity like he could. Then he got the big ones. Monstrosities, Goliaths, Colossi. Eventually, he caught Ozpin's eye. When the offer was made, he accepted, simply because Arena life was getting boring. Hopefully his teammates would be interesting.

—

 _Well, this girl is certainly… interesting. Cocky, and a little mad, but with the skills to back it up. Let's see how good she is as a teammate._

Dirk stepped out from behind his tree, just in time, to whip out DeadRock and flatten the boarbatusk that had been about to strike from behind.

"Hammer Boy!" the girl exclaimed. Dirk chuckled internally. His most identifiable feature probably was DeadRock.

"Dirk, actually. Dirk Terran," he introduced himself.

"Flare Tempest. Looking forward to killing things with you, partner!" the exuberant girl replied. Dirk allowed his grin to show.

"Likewise."

After all, smashing Grimm was fun alone. With someone like Flare around, it'd probably be even better.

—

Nemesis watched Charlie from his scroll. He had hacked into the Beacon camera network to do so, but the security on Remnant electronic systems was pitiful in comparison with Forerunner tech. Those guys were _really_ paranoid. Xiao Long had just teamed up with a young man named Sol Lux, who could fling what looked like Norse runes made out of pure energy to generate a variety of effects. The two would make for a formidable team.

 _Perfect._

 _—_

End credit music: Witch Factory - Adrian von Ziegler

(Link: watch?v=4Y6BDbkYNDE)


	4. Ferals and Morphics

Theme:

AoT - Attack On Titan Instrumental Theme

Where there is smoke,

There will soon be a fire!

 _(Where there's smoke there'll soon be fire) X4_

Where there's smoke there'll soon be fire,

Play with fire and you will be burned.

Hidden behind dark blue gauntlets,

Guardian of the innocent.

Even his great Aura may fade,

Grimm attack and darkness closes.

Where there's smoke there'll soon be fire,

Play with fire and you will be burned.

Beware, he will take you down,

With a punch,

Or a kick,

Or a thrown shuriken!

Even although he holds himself back,

He is a force to be reckoned with!

(skip to 02:32)

Where there is smoke there will soon be a fire,

Play with the flames and you will be burned,

Go all out or you're,

All far too easy,

He strikes as hard as a

COMET!

Where there is smoke there will soon be a fire,

Play with the flames and you will be burned,

Go all out or you're,

All far too easy,

He strikes as hard as a

COMET!

Where there is smoke there will soon be a fire,

Play with the flames and you will be burned,

Go all out or you're,

All far too easy,

He will take you all down!

 _(Where there's smoke there'll soon be fire) X7_

 _(Play with it, you'll burn!)_

 _—_

The large, VTOL dropship known as the Skyranger touched down on the alien landing pad, its cargo door falling open. First out were a pair of men with obviously synthetic arms and legs, each holding a large, glowing green weapon. The first was wearing black-tinted armour, with a large thermos hanging from his hip and a fedora on his head. The other was wearing desert camouflage-coloured armour and a full helmet with an opaque, golden visor over the front. After the cyborgs came a girl clad in armoured trousers and what resembled an armoured bra, all tinted orange. Her skin was covered in red fur, and her face was shaped similarly to a fox's. A large, glowing green rifle was slung on her back, and metallic claws extended from her fingertips. The last one out was dressed similarly to the girl, without anything on his chest, in forest camouflage-tinted armour. like the girl, his body was covered in fur, though his was coloured and patterned like a cheetah. His face appeared distinctly feline, and a pair of glowing green pistols hung from his waist. He looked around, taking in just where he was. Suddenly, he felt a presence in his mind, blowing past his psionic defences.

 _You hear our voice, New One, now listen well…_

 _Long have we watched… and waited. So many promising subjects, so many failed efforts. And now, after untold trials, the New One emerges to face the rigors of our collective… An enduring physical form, paired with an equally adept mental capacity – the rarest of traits, finally within our grasp._

At that, the blast door over the entrance slid open. The boy looked at his teammates, his… friends.

"Looks like we've just been invited in."

—

"Heads up! Sectos!" Aina, the girl and sniper of the team, called.

"Sectos? as in, more than one?" Koby, the brit with the canteen, called back.

"That's the one!" She yelped and swore as a massive red beam slammed into her cover, impacting three times before stopping to cool off. At that, a second beam took its place.

 _An artificial warrior… created to supplement the limitations of the many… failures. Crafted with a singular purpose… it ultimately contributes little to our cause. Still, there is hope, as the New One approaches…_

"GET OUT OF MY HEAD!" Proteus screamed, pouring his hatred and rage into a single, devastating attack. He launched the psionic energy at the sectopods before him, ripping the very fabric of space and time. As it did every time he used his abilities, the rush of power distorted his voice, caused him to laugh, and he spoke the line that the power suggested.

 **"Reality itself, RIPS you apart!"**

The sectopods stood no chance. The devastating psionic storm he had created utterly annihilated the first one and severely weakened the other. Before anyone else could even take aim, Proteus was speaking again.

 **"My mind, your body. I rip through you with ease."**

With that, he threw his hand forward again, sending a bolt of pure force at the sectopod. The poor machine couldn't hand the attack, falling over backward before exploding.

 _It is as we hoped… the New One has surpassed all that have come before… and with such great confidence… so skilled with the Gift._

"Fuck. Off."

 _No._

—

 _Behold the greatest failure… of the Ethereal Ones… We who failed to ascend as they thought we would._

 _We who were cast out. We who were doomed to feed on the Gift of lesser beings… as we sought to uplift them… to prepare them… for what lies ahead._

"Nothing lies ahead for you, you arrogant motherfucker!" Proteus roared. "Spread out! Focus on the Ethereal in the middle, and rain hell on that fucker!" As his friends complied, the ethereal spoke again.

 _The hunt draws to a close. It was not a vain undertaking… but a necessity, as our physical form has grown… ineffective. Our search for a perfect specimen was driven by our own crippling limitation, and now, at long last…_

"At long last, **YOU DIE!**

 **REALITY ITSELF, RIPS YOU APART!**

 **MY MIND, YOUR BODY. I RIP THROUGH YOU WITH EASE.**

 **SUFFER!**

 **THE BELLS OF DEATH, CALL YOU TO YOUR GRAVE!"**

Proteus let loose, sending a Rift, a Psi Lance, a Mindfray, and finally an Accept Death at the being. The first three almost killed it straight out, and the Accept Death caused it to willingly fling itself in front of Aina's headshot.

 _This is not your path! Not your purpose! You need our guidance to hone this power… without us, what are you?_

"Free." He fired one last shot from his plasma pistols at the Uber Ethereal, causing it to explode into psionic energy.

—

The Temple Ship shuddered violently, causing dust to fall from the ceiling.

"Go! Go! Go!" Proteus ordered, sending the other three sprinting for the exit. Proteus began to follow before the Gollop Device sitting by the Ethereal's body sent out a spike of information.

 _The cities of Earth, sucked into the growing gravity well generated by the Temple Ship's collapse. It was behaving like a dying star - increasing its own density at an exponential rate, forming a singularity. The ship had to be stabilised - killing the Uber Ethereal had caused an effect similar to killing a mind-merged Sectoid - the neural spike caused by its death was taking the massive, psionically linked ship with it._

The other members of his team looked back at him. He couldn't let them die with him.

 **"GO!"** he roared, sending a telekinetic wave toward them. To his dismay, however, Koby and Campbell simply anchored themselves, each grabbing one of Aina's arms to help her resist the wave as well. He shook his head.

"Fools." With that, he turned back to the Gollop Device. He could feel the massive ship responding as he placed his hands on either side of the sphere, lifting the psionic control into the air as the ship followed suit. Controlling the ship - _The Leviathan_ , it called itself - was as easy as moving his own arms. It came naturally to him - indeed, the moment he joined his mind with the craft, he felt as if he had _become_ the ship, yet he was also still inside his own body. This sensation would have been disorienting had he not already experienced it - the feeling was similar to when he had "jacked in" to the aliens' hive mind in the Gollop Chamber.

The _Leviathan_ exited the Earth's atmosphere. Now Proteus had a choice. Destroy the _Leviathan_ , or leave the planet. Were he anyone else, the choice would be easy - Destroy the ship, and die rather than spending your life alone. Proteus was different. Had his team not resisted his telekinetic wave, again, the choice would have been the same. But they had. So, he had to take the other choice. He spoke as the others approached him.

 **"Farewell, sweet mother Earth. Greetings… to the Unknown."** The _Leviathan_ 's Elerium drive spun up deep inside the monstrous craft, and the stars before them seemed to stretch before the room's blast shields slammed shut and they were flung forward. Away from their universe, and into another.

—

 _Acceleration…_

 _Acceleration…_

 _Acceleration…_

 _STOP!_

—

The three who weren't jacked in to the ship pitched forward at the virtually instantaneous deceleration. The room was dark save for the Gollop device and the Ethereal art scattered throughout the room. Proteus disconnected from the ship, the jump having stabilised its core.

"Strike-One," he began, "sound off."

Koby rolled over behind him, pushing himself to his feet with his polymorphic-augmented arms. "One-Two, all systems nominal."

Aina sat up, quickly checking her plasma sniper for damage.

"One-Three, minor scratches to my gun that'll take _hours_ to buff out, but other than that, fine."

Finally, Leroy pushed off the ground with his hands, jumping to his feet. The Polymorphic MEC seemed fine, but Proteus waited for his confirmation anyway.

"One-Four, ready to do that again!"

And there it was.

"The ship says the area is safe," Proteus began, jacking into the _Leviathan_ again. _"_ Opening the blast shields, let's get a look at what we've got." The massive metal shutters slowly descended, and the first thing that caught their eyes was a large amount of space rock in what looked like a shatter pattern. Their eyes followed it to the source, and they were struck speechless.

"Okay," Proteus began, "first off, the _Leviathan_ did not do that. That was something else. Second, _holy shit._ "

"You can say that again, Actual," Leroy replied. The moon was shattered. The shields lowered to their fullest extent, revealing the land below them.

"My god…" Aina began, "those landmasses resemble…"

"Dragons," Koby finished, taking a sip from his thermos with his little finger extended.

"We've got more pressing issues," Proteus interrupted, gazing at the stars with his now-glowing purple eyes. "Stellar mapping puts us in the same location we left from, at roughly the same time." The others turned to look at him.

"What."

—

The four soldiers stepped toward the disc-shaped ship. Koby turned to Proteus.

"Did you have to make it this one?" he asked, "lotta bad memories from that mission." Proteus nodded solemnly.

"Sorry Koby," he replied, "I know Hannah meant a lot to you, but I have no clue how to operate the alien flight computers. The psionic interface is the only thing I can use, and only the Overseer class has a Gollop device installed. Then again, I'm not even sure this one will work as well as the _Leviathan_ 's. Different ships, different links, maybe different psionic interface. I dunno - the one back home didn't retain anything from the Overseer other than the name." Aina tightened her grip on her precious rifle.

"At least the Sectoids seemed happy to build this for us."

"Yeah," Proteus nodded, "I think since I'm the one who flies the ship, I'm the one in control of this section of the hive mind now - the highest authority, so to speak. I already deployed some Thinnies to infiltrate the major cities and act as information brokers and the like… Our first port of call is called Vale, and we'll be meeting up with TI-907682, a Thinnie who took the name 'Junior'. Try not to kill him on sight please, he's a treasure trove of info he'll give immediately thanks to the whole 'controlling the hive mind' thing." The others nodded. Proteus was the boss - he told them to shoot, they shot. He told them to act friendly with a Thinnie, well, they could do that too.

"Come on, let's get moving. Hope I don't crash this thing, or we won't be coming up here for awhile…"

—

The door beneath the Overseer irised open, revealing the planet below them. The craft within the bay dropped out like a stone, the door irising shut again as they hit the atmosphere. Within the circular ship, Koby looked his commanding officer in the eye as he placed his hands on either side of the Gollop device and his eyes flashed purple again.

"Are you SURE you can fly this thing?" Proteus let out a dark chuckle, before speaking with a psionics-tinted voice.

" **I have NO IDEA!** " The soldiers blinked, then quickly grabbed hold of the nearest bolted down object as the craft began to shudder and shake. Proteus laughed maniacally as they neared the ground.

"Pull up! Pull up! Pull up pull up pulluppulluppullUUUUUUUUUUUP!" Suddenly, their fall converted into horizontal flight.

" **Okay, that was 'level out', now where's pull up…** " The ship shot forward at a ridiculous speed.

" **That's not it! That's not it! THAT IS NOT THE PULL UP COMMAND!** "

"Mountains," Aina stated.

" **What?** " Aina grabbed the feral psionic and shook him screaming "MOUNTAINS!"

" **Oh. Shit. Booster off! Come on, how do I turn the booster-OH SHIT!** " The craft shot forward even faster, forcing Proteus to quickly manoeuvre the large saucer through a series of valleys to avoid turning them all into human - and feral - Pâté.

" **Okay, we're through the mountains, now-** "

"Skyscrapers," Leroy pointed out.

" **Oh for fuck's sake!** "

Proteus tried. He really did try to manoeuvre them between the skyscrapers at Mach 3. But the gaps were just a little too small, the skyscrapers a little too closely packed.

 ** _Left. Right. Left. Right. Left-oh shit! clipped that one… Oh fuck, pull up pull up pull up pull up - oh, so_** **that's** ** _how you pull up - shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit!_** The Overseer finally lifted up - but nowhere near fast enough, smashing through the middle of a skyscraper and almost severing it in two before the Elerium cores shut down for 'safety purposes' and the ship began to descend.

—

They bounced. Five times before they came to a final, screeching halt by crashing into a storefront.

For the second time in as many hours, Proteus called out for them to sound off as he disconnected from the now-pointless Gollop device.

"One-Two, minor damage at best. Functioning within acceptable parameters." Koby dusted himself off. With the loss of primary power, the only available light was the thin beam of sunlight streaming in through the rear doorways. This was definitely not enough to easily see anything. Proteus waited for a moment, then spoke up when Aina failed to respond.

"One-Three, sound off!" No answer. "One-Four, sound off."

"One-Four, damage negligible. I'm fine, One-Actual." By this time the two polymorphic MEC troopers and Proteus were all searching through the partially destroyed room, trying to locate Aina.

"Two, Four, turn on your searchlights," Proteus ordered. Humming sounds and a pair of simultaneous responses of "yes sir" heralded the sudden illumination of the room and the crumpled form in the corner. Proteus immediately hurried to her side, placing a hand on her exposed midriff. A steady tingle told him all he needed to know - her bioelectric fur was working, so she was still alive. He sagged in relief.

"One-Two is stable, looks like she just hit her head. Provided no-one takes a shot at her, she should be fine. Let's get moving before we attract too much unwanted attention." He pulled his fellow Feral into a fireman's lift before heading toward the door. A shadow flitted across the illuminated doorway.

"Shit," he muttered. "Searchlights off, go stealthy," he ordered. He carefully placed his subordinate behind cover so she was unnoticeable from the door, then triggered his mimetic fur. Fading from standard vision, as well as heat sensitive sensors, he stealthily slid along the floor to a covered position next to the door. His ears swivelled to catch the conversation outside the ship.

 _"What is it?"_

 _"Some kind of new airship?"_

 _"Not Atlesian, you see any weapon mounts on this thing? Even their civilian sector ships have spots for guns."_

The sound of sirens cut off any further chatter. Proteus was perfectly positioned to see the police convoy halt in front of the downed craft. He risked a communication with his team.

"Two, Four, the authorities have arrived. We can't get out without making far too much noise. Looks like we'll have to face the music this time around. Two, get Three and follow me out. Four, come after Two and _don't_ be a Leroy."

"Two copies, retrieving Three now.

"Four copies, following Two and not being a foolish imbecile, SIR!" The final word was shouted loudly, alerting everyone outside the craft. The officers outside immediately drew their weapons and aimed them at the craft. The door of the centremost car opened and a man who looked to be at least as tall as an old-style MEC trooper in battlesuit stepped out. He took one look at the craft before his eyes zeroed in on Proteus behind his black sunglasses.

"I can see you, kid."

 _Damn._ Proteus stepped out from his hiding spot, mimetic fur cycling through the colours of the rainbow before settling back on his good old cheetah colour scheme. His hands were raised above his head, plasma pistols held by the barrels between two fingers each.

"Yeah," he began as the officers tensed, "hi. Can my friends come out now?"

"That depends," the massive man replied, "are your friends anything like you?" Proteus laughed, dropping his plasma pistols and doubling over in mirth.

"Anything like me?" he managed to get out between bouts of insane-sounding laughter. "My friend, nothing is like me. Three is close, but of the four of us, I'm the only psi. Two and Four are ineligble for that thanks to their augs." The man cocked an eyebrow. The kid was good at giving answers that dodged the question.

"Very well, call them out." Proteus turned on his heel, suddenly looking every bit the commanding officer he was.

"Two! Four! get your butts out here now!"

—

Lord Ashwood had not been expecting this when he woke up this morning. A spacecraft sharing a colour scheme with a now-nonexistent interstellar entity called the Covenant, carrying four beings unlike any he had ever seen before - which was saying something, he'd seen almost everything under every sun in the universe - who appeared to act as if they were part of a military? Yup. He never saw that one coming. Literally - the massive craft they came from appeared out of nowhere. Furthermore, the ship they had 'landed' in had been flying quite low and erratically - either it was already damaged, or the pilot was useless. Ash wood didn't know which one was true, but he was more inclined toward the first option considering their militaristic attitude.

After a long conversation with Colonel Proteus Deleo and his associates, he had developed a suitable cover story for them to attend Beacon, as that was the nearest combat school catering to their age group, and the only real excuse they could have for their appearance, equipment and abilities. He did want to get his hands on some of their technology - instant communications would be incredibly effective - but he could only do so after truly earning their trust.


	5. Nothing Personal

Theme:

AoT - Attack On Titan Instrumental Theme

Where there is smoke,

There will soon be a fire!

 _(Where there's smoke there'll soon be fire) X4_

Where there's smoke there'll soon be fire,

Play with fire and you will be burned.

Hidden behind dark blue gauntlets,

Guardian of the innocent.

Even his great Aura may fade,

Grimm attack and darkness closes.

Where there's smoke there'll soon be fire,

Play with fire and you will be burned.

Beware, he will take you down,

With a punch,

Or a kick,

Or a thrown shuriken!

Even although he holds himself back,

He is a force to be reckoned with!

(skip to 02:32)

Where there is smoke there will soon be a fire,

Play with the flames and you will be burned,

Go all out or you're,

All far too easy,

He strikes as hard as a

COMET!

Where there is smoke there will soon be a fire,

Play with the flames and you will be burned,

Go all out or you're,

All far too easy,

He strikes as hard as a

COMET!

Where there is smoke there will soon be a fire,

Play with the flames and you will be burned,

Go all out or you're,

All far too easy,

He will take you all down!

 _(Where there's smoke there'll soon be fire) X7_

 _(Play with it, you'll burn!)_

—

The white figure jogged through the forest next to his partner, a girl dressed in black. He was wearing a knee-length white waistcoat with a hood which was currently pulled over his head, white trousers and a grey shirt. Around his neck was a grey scarf-like piece of material, and covering his right forearm was a white bracer and gauntlet. Hanging from his waist was a white-bladed sword.

The girl, on the other hand, was dressed far less conservatively. Her bust was covered by a corset which extended only a few inches below her breasts, and she wore a pair of short shorts as well, all in black. Her forearms were covered by black fingerless gloves that extended to her elbows, and her legs were similarly covered by thigh-high black boots which were connected to her shorts by grey leather straps, under which she wore white stockings. Strapped to the left boot was an array of seven tubes, six of which contained metal cylindrical objects. If one looked closely enough they could see the condensation rising from the empty tube, indicating all of them were refrigerated in some way. A grey belt with a winged black buckle adorned her waist, and a large black hexagonal prism was strapped to her back. Finally, she wore a blue-tinted visor over her eyes which was outlined by black metal. The two made for a very strange pair, though they shared some similarities.

First, they ran in silence. Neither spoke a word, or even breathed hard. The only sound they made was the barely-audible sound of feet treading lightly on grass.

Second, they were alert. Both of them quickly zeroed in on the faintest rustle of leaves or breaking twig, though the boy was obviously less aware of what they could mean than the girl.

Finally, they were running toward the same goal, and away from the same danger.

Eventually, the girl turned to her companion.

"You weren't very useful back there, boy." The boy let out an indignant sound.

"The wilds aren't my effective environment, Raven. You might be able to do well in a forest, but my power comes from absorbing _technology_. I dunno about you, but I don't see any technology around here!" Raven rolled her eyes.

"Idiot. There's cameras in pretty much every tree!" The boy skidded to a stop, the girl stopping a few metres ahead.

"What?" he exclaimed. Raven nodded.

"Look around you, Sterling. You can't see the forest for the trees, can you?" she whipped the prism off of her back, extending a barrel from one end, a stock from the other, a scope from the top side and a handle from the bottom to reveal it was, in fact, a sniper rifle. She took careful aim (read: aimed for less than a second) and squeezed the trigger, blowing a branch off of a nearby tree. Following the branch came a rather large CCTV camera. Sterling walked over to the device even as Raven fired three more shots, dropping three more cameras. an urgent beeping alerted her to her weapon's heat level, and she pulled the slide back. On most weapons, this would chamber a new round into the gun. On Raven's rifle, it ejected a red-hot metal cylinder from the side of the gun. She caught the cylinder and placed it inside the empty tube on her leg. a loud hiss told her the cylinder was being chilled, and she pulled another from one of the other tubes strapped to her leg and inserted it into the gun, pushing the slide back forward. By the time she was finished, the cameras were gone, and Sterling was practically glowing.

"Alright, a few more of those and we might get to move a bit faster."

—

Glynda was shocked to see one of the students firing four times and cutting off as many camera feeds. She was further shocked by how the girl in question somehow managed to continue to shoot each camera the pair came across within a second of seeing it. Next to her, Ozpin chuckled.

"I see miss Onyx is creating somewhat of a dead zone in the forest," he commented. Glynda glared at him. Only professor Ozpin could be unconcerned about the destruction of the very system they used to monitor their students.

—

A girl in a skintight green catsuit leaped from branch to branch, giggling happily. Her partner, a girl in an armoured purple catsuit, sprinted along the ground below, desperately trying to keep up. The first girl stopped on a branch overhanging the other girl's path, hanging from her knees and allowing her green hair to cascade down toward the ground. As the purple-clothed girl caught up, she bent over in an attempt to catch her breath.

"Come on, Lavender!" the green-themed girl complained, "you can go faster than that!" Lavender broke her silence, glaring at the chipper, energetic girl above her.

"You… are… a demon!" she exclaimed, wheezing.

"Aww, don't be like that!" the girl swiftly pulled her weapon from her back, a bow with green blades attached to the arms and a canister of Dust sitting above the grip. With a practiced motion she drew back the string which materialised as her fingers reached it, a translucent red arrow appearing in the space between the bow and string. In less than a second, she aimed and fired. A bolt of red light connected her bow and her target for a second before the Grimm she had hit exploded in a large fireball. Lavender shrieked in shock, leaping away from the conflagration. Viridian, the girl with the bow, holstered her weapon again before dropping to the ground, gracefully flipping to land on her feet.

"We should get moving," she told her partner, suddenly serious. "For every Beowolf you see, there's at least seven you can't."

Lavender nodded, still catching her breath. They would have to move a lot faster soon.

—

Proteus pressed his finger to the subdermal communicator implant behind his right human ear.

"Strike-One, this is One-Actual. Check in and activate your transponders."

A few moments passed before the crackling static gave way to Koby's voice.

"One-Two, hit the ground like a meteor but no damage was sustained. Activating location transponder."

"One-Three, landed without a scratch. Transponder going live." Two waypoints appeared on Proteus's wrist map, and a third quickly followed.

"One-Four, definitely want to do that again. Transponder activatin-oh shit!" Static followed.

"Four! Report!"

"I've been engaged! twelve creatures, look a bit like wolves! But these things ain't like normal wolves!"

"Hold on, Four! Two, Three, Get to Four's location now! Double-time it!" Proteus had only ever given such an order once before. The order to double-time was tantamount to suicide on most occasions when fighting X-rays, as it left no opportunity to fire one's weapon unless they were trained to fire while moving like Proteus. Neither soldier questioned him, however. Proteus was the boss, after all. Proteus focussed his mind, sending out a psionic probe toward Four. As soon as their minds linked, Proteus's eyes opened, glowing purple with psionic energy. Then he vanished.

He didn't really _vanish_ , but that was how it seemed to the teachers on the cliff. Ozpin quickly flicked through camera feeds, trying to find the elusive colonel. When he did, it was for less than a second. The feral soldier was tearing through the treetops at a ridiculous speed, making a perfect beeline for his teammate - or, more specifically, the enemies charging toward him. Before the beowolves could move more than a metre, Deleo slammed down into the midst of them, a psionic wave grabbing the creatures and bringing them into the range of his claws, tail, and teeth. Not much was left behind even before they dissolved into the dark energy from whence they came. Proteus released the mind-merge, immediately making eye contact with Jenkins.

"We wait here," he informed him. Jenkins merely saluted, before shifting his arms to machine-gun mode and scanning for movement. A minute passed before Koby burst out of the tree line, Aina just behind him. Both checked for threats, before turning to stare at Jenkins, who was performing a pretty good impression of a TF2 sentry gun, complete with beeping sound.

"Make eye contact, and let's get moving, guys." Proteus checked his map, spun on his heel, and began to head north. Jenkins mimed folding up, then ran off after him. Koby and Aina looked at each other, made eye contact, and shrugged in sync before chasing after them.

—

Proteus held up his hand. _Stop._ He pointed at each of them in turn, then at the ground. _You three, hold position._ He pointed at himself, then ahead, before walking his fingers across his hand slowly as if being cautious. _I will scout ahead, remaining undetected._ He saluted with two fingers. _Understood?_ The other three responded by saluting with their whole hands. _Hooah._

Proteus's mimetic fur activated, and he disappeared from sight.

A few moments later, they heard four roars. They could instantly tell from the echoing quality of the roars, however, that the owners of the mouths that had made those roars were losing control of their own bodies. Proteus strolled back to them, followed by three large, bearlike creatures and one massive, spike-covered creature of a similar type.

"Check it out," the colonel began, "I got us some sweet rides." Jenkins immediately let out a "Yee haw!" and leaped onto the back of the ursa to the far left. Proteus grinned and climbed up onto the largest one. Again, Aina and Koby shrugged in sync. Proteus was the boss, and if the boss wanted to ride large, bear-like monsters through a dense forest, well, who were they to argue?

Proteus reached into one of the hard cases on his leggings, pulling out an iPod. A couple of seconds later, he connected it to the speaker system in the case and dropped it back inside, hitting the play button as the other two mounted their ursai.

—

Music: Ghost Riders In The Sky - Spiderbait

—

Four ursai crashed their way through the Emerald Forest, flattening trees and any other Grimm unlucky enough to get in their way. On their backs sat four XCOM soldiers. Somehow, the rhythm of the ursai's footsteps matched the beat of the music blasting out of the speakers on Proteus's leg.

 _A lone cowboy went riding out,_

 _One dark and windy day._

Aina's mane streamed out behind her as she rode, closely resembling a trail of fire.

 _Upon a ridge he rested as,_

 _He went along his way._

The polymorphic MEC troopers had fashioned their arms into reins, allowing them to hang on easily as they ploughed through the vegetation.

 _When all at once a mighty herd,_

 _Of red-eyed cows he saw,_

 _Ploughing through the ragged skies,_

 _And up a cloudy draw._

Proteus's Ursa Major smashed through a particularly dense thicket of trees.

 _Their brands were still on fire and,_

 _Their hooves were made of steel._

A pink-clad redhead and her stoic green-clad partner stared in shock as the four bearlike Grimm thundered past. The redhead turned to her partner.

 _Their horns were black and shiny and,_

 _Their hot breath he could feel!_

The girl gave the stoic teen a look which clearly said "I want one." The boy sighed. Of course she did.

 _A bolt of fear went through him as,_

 _They thundered through the sky,_

 _He saw the riders coming hard,_

 _And he heard their mournful cry._

They charged up an incline, before suddenly coming to a small cliff. Reacting fast, Proteus had the Ursai brace for impact. They'd be injured, but they would still be able to continue.

 _"Yippee-yi-yee!_

 _Yippee-yi-yo!_

 _Ghost Riders In The Sky!"_

Proteus sang along as they crashed to the ground before continuing at a slightly slower pace.

 _"Yippee-yi-yee!_

 _Yippee-yi-yo!_

 _Ghost Riders In The Sky!"_

—

Charlie held up a hand. Sol, recognising the silent gesture, immediately stopped. The blue swordsman looked in every direction, glaring at the shadows. Then he spoke.

"We have company."

Immediately, five men dressed in black, wearing the signature masks of the White Fang, sprang from their hiding places.

 _Shit,_ Sol thought, back-pedalling as the first man charged straight for him. Before he could blink, however, the man had been grasped by the shoulder and flung into the others, knocking the whole group to the ground.

"Fools," Charlie muttered, before speaking firmly. "TAI, I'm breaking our agreement on radio contact. I've got five White Fang members here. Check your database - have Ruby or I encountered any of these people before?"

 _"Two, sir. The man you threw, and the small one to the right. Both have, on previous occasions, attempted to bring harm to miss Rose. You were more concerned with your sister's welfare at the time. I suppose retribution shall still be had."_ Charlie grinned.

"The VPD would give you a 'fair trial' which would be a farce. The Fang has too many clandestine connections for there _not_ to be a bribery to save you from prison. Therefore, I will stand in judgement of the two of you. You attempted to bring harm to me and my sister two years ago. Of this you are guilty. My oath requires that you die. Sorry. Nothing personal." He drew his weapon.

The boxlike component on the end of the handle rapidly telescoping into a two-metre-long sword blade. The two whom TAI had referred to scrambled to their feet, beginning to run away, but they were far too slow. Charlie shot forward, impaling the first through the chest. He sent the sword spinning toward the other with a flick of his wrist, decapitating the goon before the blade returned to his hand where he re-sheathed the blade.

"As for the rest of you… Go." Immediately the remaining three goons scrambled to their feet and disappeared into the undergrowth. Sol just stared at Charlie as he remorselessly murdered two men in cold blood.

"Sorry you had to see that," Charlie apologised, turning to his partner. "My oath doesn't leave much leeway on those matters - if someone tries to hurt my sister, they die. It's actually a matter of public record, and I've got a badge that gives me the authority to do it." Then Sol exploded.

"How can you be so… blasé about this? You just _killed_ two people!" Charlie's eyes narrowed, and he stalked over to the boy.

"I would do far worse to protect my sister." A slight breeze began to pick up, growing in strength as he spoke. " _Ego protector, cultellus aestatis, defensor innocentium._ " White petals began to appear, swirling around in the wind which ruffled his hair. " _Hoc animae deputatur._ " A glowing white outline appeared around his body, as if he were standing in front of a light source. " _Ego sum Tutorem._ " On the final word, his eyes flashed white, and the glow exploded outward like a shockwave, passing through everything until it dissipated. "In english: I am a shield, the blade of summer, defender of the innocent. My soul is devoted to this task. I am guardian." Sol gulped.

"Okay then…"

"So, just to be clear, unless you try to hurt my sister, I have no reason to kill you. But just be warned: if you hurt her, you. Will. Die."

"Isn't this the speech you're supposed to give to her boyfriend?"

"Usually, yes. But I give it to everyone she or I meet, just in case."

"Geez, overprotective much?" Charlie laughed.

"You have no idea. Let's get moving." Suddenly, the ground began to rumble. Charlie's expression immediately went serious. "Sol, I'm about to give you an order I need you to follow to the letter."

"Okay…"

"Get the fuck out of here if you don't want to die."

"Why-"

"GO!" Charlie began running to the left. Sol shook his head and followed.

"Just tell me what-"

"Burrower!"

"A what?"

"Massive, twelve-hundred-metre-long worm with monomolecular-edged teeth! Almost indestructible! You have no chance! GO! Get off the ground!"

"Oh. Okay. What about you?"

"I'll be fine! Now, for the last time, GO!" Sol turned and ran, employing the same technique he had used to land to take off again. As he got above the tree line, he saw the monster Charlie had spoken of.

"Okay. Wow." Charlie stepped into the creature's path. "What the hell is he doing?"

"Come on, you big serpentine sonuvabitch!" The worm-like Grimm ignored him, diving back into the ground in a manner similar to a sea serpent of legend. Charlie leaped out of the way before grasping one of the spikes on its armour. Immediately, he was jerked into a clockwise rotation of around seventy metres per second. Clinging on for dear life as the section followed the Burrower's head underground, he prepared himself for the change. As soon as the section came back up, he leaped forward, grasping the next section and being pulled into an anticlockwise rotation of the same speed, almost wrenching his arms out of their sockets. He grunted as he checked how many segments were left. Twelve. Great. Just his luck.

"Sol!" he shouted, "you'll have to go on yourself! Get the relic, and get back to the cliffs! If I survive, I'll meet you there!"

"Got it! See you on the other side, sir!" Sol responded, before flying in the direction they had originally been headed.


	6. Titans Fall

Theme:

AoT - Attack On Titan Instrumental Theme

Where there is smoke,

There will soon be a fire!

 _(Where there's smoke there'll soon be fire) X4_

Where there's smoke there'll soon be fire,

Play with fire and you will be burned.

Hidden behind dark blue gauntlets,

Guardian of the innocent.

Even his great Aura may fade,

Grimm attack and darkness closes.

Where there's smoke there'll soon be fire,

Play with fire and you will be burned.

Beware, he will take you down,

With a punch,

Or a kick,

Or a thrown shuriken!

Even although he holds himself back,

He is a force to be reckoned with!

(skip to 02:32)

Where there is smoke there will soon be a fire,

Play with the flames and you will be burned,

Go all out or you're,

All far too easy,

He strikes as hard as a

COMET!

Where there is smoke there will soon be a fire,

Play with the flames and you will be burned,

Go all out or you're,

All far too easy,

He strikes as hard as a

COMET!

Where there is smoke there will soon be a fire,

Play with the flames and you will be burned,

Go all out or you're,

All far too easy,

He will take you all down!

 _(Where there's smoke there'll soon be fire) X7_

 _(Play with it, you'll burn!)_

—

Ruby shot up the cliff, held there by Weiss's glyphs and propelled by her beloved sniper-scythe, which was currently hooked around the neck of a Giant Nevermore. A final shot from Crescent Rose, and the enormous Grimm's head finally came free, allowing her to safely land on the top of the cliff. She turned to face her team.

Down by the temple, Yang glanced at her teammates.

"Well… That was a thing." Immediately, the ground began to shudder. Ruby's sharp eyes caught sight of a boy streaking through the sky, golden flames erupting from his hands and feet, before she began to wobble from the quake.

"What's that?" Weiss asked, "more Grimm?" Yang chuckled darkly.

"Simultaneously better and worse. That's a Burrower - most dangerous Grimm ever discovered."

"How is that better?" Blake questioned.

"Well…"

From the bottom of the crevasse erupted a twelve-hundred-metre-long wormlike Grimm, covered in rotating armoured segments. Riding just behind its head was a boy clad in blue.

"Woo-hoo!" he shouted, clearly enjoying the ride. From the forest side of the gap, Nora cheered the boy on.

"Ride 'em, cowboy!" she screamed. Next to her, Ren recovered enough to facepalm at her antics as Jaune and Pyrrha sweatdropped. The Burrower was towering over them now as it flicked its head up. A blue speck was flung high above its head, and it looked upward, opening its segmented maw. Jaune grabbed Pyrrha's arm.

"We gotta help him!" Pyrrha shook her head, awe showing in her eyes.

"If that's who I think it is, he doesn't want or need our help."

—

High above the enormous Grimm, Charlie drew his sword for the second time that day. He pointed the blade downward, orientating his body to follow in it's path.

"Summer Rose…" he began, "lend me strength."

As his body began to fall, he began to glow.

—

"Is he…"

"Glowing?" Pyrrha finished for him. Jaune nodded. "Yes," she replied, "yes he is." _It's been awhile…_

—

Charlie shot downward, passing the first three rows of monomolecular-edged, rapidly rotating teeth before flipping over, blasting downward to arrest his momentum, and blasting to his right, sending himself, and the sword, hurtling toward the roof of the Burrower's mouth. Unlike anywhere else of the Burrower's body, the blade sank in like a knife into butter, severing the brain stem of the monstrous creature. He blasted backward and up as the creature let out a final, chilling screech before falling toward the bottom of the abyss. He fell toward the top of the cliff and a grinning Ruby Rose.

"Way to steal my thunder, Charlie," she told him as he landed, leaving a small crater in the ground.

"Sorry about that, next time I'll let a Burrower roam free and kill most of the other initiates." Ruby chuckled as Sol finally landed next to Charlie. He held out a white queen chess piece. Charlie took it, holding it up to take a closer look.

"Good work, Sol." the runemaster nodded, grinning.

"I saw a pretty big fight going on near the temple, but I couldn't give them much support since they were spread throughout the melee."

"Let's hope they survive, then." Sol nodded.

—

Sterling dodged another swipe from the beowolf before him, using its recovery to decapitate it.

"There's a LOT of Grimm here!" he shouted to Raven. The black-themed sniper was currently perched, birdlike on a branch, taking pot-shots at the Grimm attacking her partner.

"I can tell!" she shouted back, before eliminating an Ursa which had managed to creep up on the white swordsman.

"Are there any more cameras here?" he asked.

"One! I'll get it for you!" a sharp retort, and another camera fell at Sterling's feet. He quickly absorbed it, finally reaching the critical energy required to create the mass he needed.

"Alright! Heeeeeeeere's backup!" he shouted, glowing white before seeming to explode. The energy coalesced into a hulking, humanoid shape. When the glow faded, a robot stood where Sterling had been a moment ago. The robot immediately began attacking the Grimm, pummelling and crushing them to death with its bare hands. As it turned away from her, Raven could see stencilled onto it's back "AG-20". Shaking herself, she quickly returned to the task at hand, clearing out even more Grimm. With the assistance of Sterling in the shape of the "AG-20", the remaining beowolves and Ursai were quickly eliminated. Before they could so much as congratulate each other, however, a loud roar reached their ears.

—

The same roar reached Charlie and the others as well. They turned almost as one to see the one creature Charlie _really_ didn't want to see.

"Taituo…" Charlie breathed.

—

Sterling immediately flashed bak into his original form, running up to Raven's tree. "Come on!" he shouted. "We have to move! Now! The two of us stand no chance!" Raven took a deep breath, then nodded. They turned and ran toward the temple, desperately trying to escape the massive draconian Grimm which was now chasing them. A loud cracking sound heralded a blazing arrow heading toward the creature's eye, exploding as it hit. All it did was make it angry. Sterling and Raven turned to find six other people running with them. Above the now group of eight, the Taituo screeched. Sterling recognised the screech. So did Aeris. The two screamed the same word at the same time.

"Scatter!" the Grimm opened its maw. At first, nothing seemed to be happening as they all split up. Then it clashed two of its fangs together. A single spark was all it took to ignite the gas it had been exhaling, creating a fireball that exploded out of its mouth and toward where they had all been positioned before.

—

Sterling found himself near to Raven, as well as a girl dressed in purple and another dressed in green. The girl in purple was holding what looked to be a flashlight which was emitting a blade of purple light, while the one in green was holding a bow with a string that looked to be made of pure Aura. Compared to the three girls' weapons, Sterling's sword looked pretty basic. The boy quickly took stock of his Aura level. He was pretty much running on fumes, so he couldn't take on his Atlesian Goliath-20 form again. He was limited to machines of his own size or smaller, which gave him three possibilities: 1) He could take on the form of an AK-130, using a pair of arm-mounted miniguns to try to distract the Grimm. 2) He could use his AK-120 form, using a pair of retractable blades for a similar purpose. 3) He could proceed to shit himself and then transform into a toaster. His partner and the other two stood firm. Fine. No toaster.

The Taituo came around again, its eyes focussed on Sterling for some unknown reason. Another screech, this one heralding a different attack. The girls all scattered again, but Sterling stood his ground. The draconian Grimm opened its mouth, spitting a cloud of poison over the boy. A flash of white light later, and the boy was no longer man, but machine.

"Big mistake," he intoned robotically. A pair of miniguns slid from his arms, and he opened fire into the surprised creature's mouth as he began to give orders to the stunned girls.

"Raven, aim for the eyes, they're one of its only weak points. Girl in green, keep it up with those explosive arrows, they'll disorient it and discourage it from trying it's fire or poison breaths. Girl in purple, grab the tail, climb up on top, and stab it right where the mask connects with the neck - the armour stops there for flexibility. Go!" he added when the girls didn't move. Shaking herself, Raven unholstered Black Widow and fired a shot into one of the Taituo's eyes.

—

Aeris found himself with Serenity, Flare, and Hammer Boy (whose name turned out to be Dirk).

"Okay," Aeris began, surprising even himself. "Serenity, be careful around this thing. It's fire can easily evaporate you. Flare, you'll be good against its fire, but if it uses anything else you're screwed. Dirk, you and I both need to worry about it the most, since we're vulnerable. Okay, assets… Serenity, is your water form limited to your body, or can you use other water?"

"I can use another body of water to bolster my water form, yes, but it's exhausting."

"Okay, I'm starting to get an idea. Flare, think HotShot can take Dirk's weight?"

"You know my babies can, Aeris!" the raven faunus rolled his eyes.

"Okay, here's the plan." he quickly explained, happy with the looks of growing comprehension he was receiving. "Sound like a plan?" The other three nodded their heads, determined expressions on their faces.

"I gotta let the others know the plan. Serenity, make for the nearest lake. Flare, get Dirk on board. I'll get flying when everything's ready."

—

As soon as the other four agreed to the plan, Aeris pulled out Focus, his Multi-Action Dust Staff (Customised) or MADS(C). The revolving cylinder quickly settled on a yellow crystal, and he spun the weapon around over his head before slamming the bladed end into the ground. A bolt of lightning erupted into the sky from the now yellow gem at the staff's head, arcing down to strike the Taituo's head a second later. The powerful attack had no real effect other than to change the target of the draconian Grimm's ire. Aeris looked to Viridian, the girl with the bow.

"Launch an explosive arrow upward when you're in position." She glanced at Sterling.

"What he said," the boy told her as the raven faunus leaped into the air, several tonnes of draconian creature of darkness hot on his tail.

Serenity reached the pool she had spotted earlier, diving in and preparing herself for the strain this move would undoubtedly place on her Aura. The sound of footsteps, distorted by the water, reached her ears to tell her the others had arrived. A burning red arrow flew into the air. The trap was set.

—

Despite being a creature of Grimm, the Taituo was no dumb beast. It had learned from territorial disputes with Nevermores exactly how to attack a smaller flying enemy. But somehow, this faunus was evading everything it threw at him! The Grimm growled, sending a burst of Blighted Breath at the elusive prey. Anticipating the move, the raven boy had spun his staff, sending him rocketing forward. But he always fell back to just outside its range. Why? Why was he… Oh no.

IT'S A TRAP!

The Taituo had come to this conclusion just a moment too late.

—

Dirk leaped into the air, bringing the full force of DeadRock down onto the draconian Grimm's shoulders. The massive hammer created a shockwave as it hit, not through Dust, but through sheer concussive force. Instantly, the Grimm lost all feeling in its wings as they simultaneously dislocated. Sharp objects might be ineffective, but blunt force trauma was almost never stopped by armour. The massive monster hit the lake at high speed, sinking like a stone. For a moment, it looked as if it were going to escape. Then Serenity made her move.

Serenity's Semblance allowed her to change the composition of her body to water. This ability, while draining, allowed her to avoid otherwise lethal blows. And, in certain situations, it allowed her to do something no other living being could do. As the Taituo burst out of the water, the lake itself took on a humanoid shape, grasping the draconian Grimm with both hands and slamming it into the now-dry lakebed, stunning it. Every time it tried to fight back, its attacks passed straight through. Every time the water golem struck, its blows were hard as stone. Soon, all fight had left the ancient Grimm, and it was at that moment that the others struck. Lavender drew her Force Blade, the blade of the swordlike weapon a beam of pure Force Dust energy, and began slashing at the creature's eyes. Raven unfolded Black Widow and began firing superdense sand particles at a fraction of the speed of light. Flare pulled out her twin bladed shotguns and began emptying the Burn Dust rounds straight down its throat. Aeris supplemented the assault with bolts of lightning. Finally, Sterling expended the last of his Aura to transform into an Atlesian anti-air cannon, which Dirk quickly commandeered to fire a single, massive projectile straight down the Taituo's gullet. This final shot was the last straw, erupting through the Grimm's weaker insides and destroying its internal organs. The Taituo couldn't even let out a final roar of pain, as its lungs were ruptured. The massive Grimm had lived for centuries, killed hundreds of trained Huntsmen. But a team of eight had finally defeated it. The Taituo loved a good fight. It loved the thrill of the hunt. And, despite what one might think, the Taituo was rather intelligent - to the point of coherent thought. And in its final moments, all it could think of was two words.

 _Well played._

—

"Flare Tempest. Aeris Tempest. Serenity Depth. Dirk Terran. The four of you retrieved the white bishop pieces. Together, you shall be known as team FASD (Facade), led by… Aeris Tempest!" The raven faunus was more than a little surprised by this development, though he refused to let this become apparent. He simply nodded in a stoic manner, giving his teammates a half grin as they walked of the stage to allow the next team to be formed.

"Sterling Argent. Lavender Periwinkle. Viridian Kelly. Raven Onyx. The four of you retrieved the white pawn pieces. Together, you shall be known as team SLVR (Silver), led by… Sterling Argent!" the hooded teen allowed his own surprise to show on his face only by a slight widening of his eyes - no-one could see his jaw dropping beneath the mask covering his lower face. Raven looked at him with a resigned expression, asking him without words "I have a lot to teach you about this, don't I?"

He simply nodded slightly, and she sighed as he led them off the stage.

"Proteus 'The First' Deleo. Aina 'Deadeye' Kawaguchi. Campbell 'Leroy' Jenkins. Koby 'Impact' Alexander. The four of you retrieved the black knight pieces. Together, you shall be known as team PACK (Pack), Lead by… Proteus Deleo!" Proteus was not in the least surprised. The four of them stood at was until he stomped his right boot, bringing them to attention, before stomping twice. The four of them turned to the left as one, marching off the stage. _The military training of those four is obvious,_ thought Ozpin. Proteus nodded, having heard the telegraphed thought thanks to his psionic abilities.

"Finally, Charles Xiao Long and Sol Lux. The two of you retrieved the white queen piece. Despite having no other teammates, one of you successfully slew a Burrower which had encroached upon the Forest-" a video played over the screen above them of Charlie falling into the Burrower's maw "-while the other successfully returned to Beacon with the artefact. Due to these accomplishments, you shall be a two-man team known as CLSL (Collossal), led by… Charles Xiao Long!" Charlie grinned at that. Oath or no oath, he hadn't been sure of his acceptance once he had realised that he and Sol were the only two left. Sol, likewise, was obviously relieved as well. The two hurried off the stage, Charlie to speak with his sister's team and Sol to pursue a passtime he had become quickly proficient at: casting the future.


	7. Cryptic Words

Theme:

AoT - Attack On Titan Instrumental Theme

Where there is smoke,

There will soon be a fire!

 _(Where there's smoke there'll soon be fire) X4_

Where there's smoke there'll soon be fire,

Play with fire and you will be burned.

Hidden behind dark blue gauntlets,

Guardian of the innocent.

Even his great Aura may fade,

Grimm attack and darkness closes.

Where there's smoke there'll soon be fire,

Play with fire and you will be burned.

Beware, he will take you down,

With a punch,

Or a kick,

Or a thrown shuriken!

Even although he holds himself back,

He is a force to be reckoned with!

(skip to 02:32)

Where there is smoke there will soon be a fire,

Play with the flames and you will be burned,

Go all out or you're,

All far too easy,

He strikes as hard as a

COMET!

Where there is smoke there will soon be a fire,

Play with the flames and you will be burned,

Go all out or you're,

All far too easy,

He strikes as hard as a

COMET!

Where there is smoke there will soon be a fire,

Play with the flames and you will be burned,

Go all out or you're,

All far too easy,

He will take you all down!

 _(Where there's smoke there'll soon be fire) X7_

 _(Play with it, you'll burn!)_

—

Charlie's first act as the leader of team Colossal was to declare that neither of them would be sleeping until they had both finished unpacking, since their schedule was relatively tight in the morning. Sol, after a glance over the timetable, quickly agreed and began to unpack his three suitcases. Charlie used his Force Dust tattoos on the absolute minimum setting to hammer nails into a kit-set hanging desk, before nailing it onto the wall after testing to see where the support beams were. Sol, on the opposite side, unfolded a workbench which occupied one of his suitcases, and laid out a set of Runestone blanks and the tools required to make them into runestones from another suitcase. His final suitcase was full of clothing, which went into his half of the dresser. On Charlie's side, the boy had finished wiring up a charging port on the wall, which he placed a rather strange-looking Scroll into. Immediately, the Scroll activated, a slowly rotating cyan-and-blue sphere appearing on-screen.

"Good evening, Sir," the Scroll spoke with a refined (english) accent. Sol's eyebrows rose.

"Evening, TAI," Charlie responded, hanging his sword on a rack which took up half of his wall and beginning to set up a large flatscreen next to it. As soon as he plugged it in, the television turned on, displaying a pair of files which Sol was certain were not meant to be seen by him - at least until Charlie called him over.

"Take a look at these dossiers," Charlie instructed. Sol did as he was asked. On the left was a dossier entitled "Nemesis"

—

 **Name:**

UNKNOWN (Goes by Nemesis)

 **Race:**

UNKNOWN (Believed to be human)

 **Family:**

UNKNOWN

 **Affiliation:**

The Black Queen

 **Occupation:**

Shock trooper; Assassin.

 **Combatant Type:**

Shieldsman; Manoeuvrist; Transporter.

 **Threat Level:**

OMEGA Ω (Ability and Drive based, POTENTIAL Motivation)

 **Known Crimes:**

87 counts class 1 MURDER (and a further 180 suspected), 54 counts class 2 MURDER, 2 counts class 3 MURDER, 62 counts THEFT (DUST), 768 counts class 1 ASSAULT, 65 counts class 2 ASSAULT, 8 counts class 3 ASSAULT, 1 count HIGH TREASON.

 **Notable Crimes:**

Murder of Huntresses Summer Rose and Denise Valkyrie (class 3 MURDER); Sabotage of the defensive wall around Valean expansion Mountain Glenn and assassination of high-ranking officials within Mountain Glenn defense corps, leading to the fall of the expansion to the creatures of Grimm (HIGH TREASON).

 **Standing Orders:**

Upon sighting, DO NOT ENGAGE. Report location and heading to the nearest station and REMAIN HIDDEN. Suspect is WELL ARMED and EXTREMELY DANGEROUS. Engagements with Suspect typically result in NO SURVIVORS. Suspect is capable of teleportation, so running is not an option. If engaged, FIGHT TO YOUR LAST BREATH, Suspect is not the kind of person to let you flee.

 **Dossier Classification:**

TOP SECRET (Released to [REDACTED] under Valean Intelligence Act article 35 subsection D on request of clan leader [REDACTED].)

 **Motivations and Abilities:**

Nemesis is an enigma.

Based on what few recordings the VPD has been able to recover, we believe him to be driven by a "survival of the fittest" mentality. Throughout the recordings, his most common quote is:

"I destroy that which offends me. Weakness offends me. You are weak. And now, you will die."

-Nemesis

Nemesis's Semblance appears to be Teleportation, which, when coupled with his omni-directional manoeuvring gear and unorthodox Dual Bladed Retractable Shields (DBRS's), make him an extremely unpredictable fighter. The blades of his DBRS's are infused with Black Dust, a rare Dust type which disrupts Aura, allowing a weapon containing it to ignore the target's Aura completely. Wounds inflicted by a Black Dust weapon usually take two to three times as long to heal as other wounds would without the assistance of Aura.

—

"Why would such a dossier be classified so highly?" Sol asked. Charlie stared at him, a deadpan expression on his face.

"He's an Omega level threat. Only a few individuals are identified as such, and all are identified as such because they possess any two of the following: the ability, drive, and or motivation to destroy an entire _kingdom_ alone. Nemesis was the individual responsible for the destruction of Mountain Glenn, for Oum's sake."

"Oh," Sol responded, shocked. "I can see why the police want his existence out of the public eye." Charlie nodded.

"There's more, though. This is the other file." the file on the right expanded, filling the screen.

—

 **Name:**

Charles "Charlie" Xiao Long

 **Race:**

Human

 **Family:**

Taiyang Xiao Long (adoptive father); Yang Xiao Long (adoptive sister); Ruby Rose (adoptive sister)

Biological family UNKNOWN

 **Affiliation:**

Beacon Academy

 **Occupation:**

Huntsman-in-training; Protector of Ruby Rose

 **Combatant Type:**

Swordsman; Brawler; Marksman; Shurikenist; Strategist.

 **Threat Level:**

OMEGA Ω (Ability and drive based)

 **Known Crimes:**

None (Suspected of 35 counts of class 1 ASSAULT, and 1 count of class 2 ASSAULT) [ALL CLEARED - BEACON AUTHORITY]

 **Notable Crimes:**

None

 **Standing Orders:**

Not a Suspect; no need to engage, detain, or arrest.

NOTE: Subject is a student of Beacon Academy, having been advanced one year to enrol. Has slain a Burrower-type Apocalypse-class creature of Grimm; is unlikely to be detainable even without diplomatic immunity granted by Beacon.

 **Dossier Classification:**

TOP SECRET (Released to [REDACTED] under Valean Intelligence Act article 35 subsection D on request of VPD Chief Mendez.)

 **Motivations and Abilities:**

Unlike OMEGA-1 (Nemesis), OMEGA-2 (Charles Xiao Long) is easy to understand based both on interviews and on observations.

Xiao Long is driven by an immovable desire to protect his adoptive younger sister, Ruby Rose. This goal drives him to accompany her almost anywhere away from their home island, Patch. He can be seen as overbearing, even stifling, but Miss Rose appears to be grateful for his company. This drive appears to have been initiated on the day of the murder of SUMMER ROSE, his adoptive mother. According to Xiao Long, she extracted an oath from him with her dying breaths, an oath he chose to make on his very soul, devoting his life to the task of protecting his adoptive sister.

Despite his subtly powerful Semblance and ability to defeat almost any enemy, he was originally only considered Omega-level because of his Overcharge ability. For those who do not know, many Semblances are Overchargeable, the most notable being the Xiao Long family Semblance of Kinetic Absorption, which can be charged directly by the user's Aura, causing an explosive detonation and amplifying the ability beyond its standard limit. Charles Xiao Long, however, has an Overcharge ability seemingly unrelated to his Semblance. By reaffirming the oath made to SUMMER ROSE, he drains his own, Blue Smoke Aura and gains a new, White Rose Aura - apparently the Aura of SUMMER ROSE herself. This Aura alters the Dust in the tattoos inlaid into his forearms and calves thusly:

Force Dust:

Gravity Dust (Alters Gravity's effect on the user, allowing flight)

Burn Dust:

Inferno Dust (Powerful variant of Burn, creates a massive, uncontrollable explosion of fire)

Freeze Dust:

Blizzard Dust (Powerful variant of Freeze Dust, detonates on use to freeze anything closer than 30 metres in any direction.

Shock Dust:

Smite Dust (Also called "The Wrath of Oum", instantly vaporizes creatures of Grimm and purges an Aura of negative effects; causes no harm to beings with Aura.)

Petrification Dust:

Quake Dust (Does virtually what it says on the tin, creates a massive earthquake, knocking everything except the user off their feet.)

Experts have speculated that in this form, Xiao Long may also gain the ability to use SUMMER ROSE's Semblance: the Holy Detonation, which causes the user's Aura to detonate, destroying Grimm within a massive radius while empowering Light Auras and crippling Dark Auras.

Outside of his Overcharge, Xiao Long's Semblance is the subtly powerful Bullet Time, or when used to its fullest extent, Tactical Pause. It is a mental ability which allows Xiao Long to overdrive his brain, granting him effectively situational omnipotence and allowing him to plan out an entire encounter in the blink of an eye. According to Xiao Long himself, "I see how they will react, and I plan to counteract them." It is this which makes him so impossible to defeat.

—

"Wait," Sol began, "you're classified as an Omega level threat?"

"Yeah," Charlie shrugged, "It's not that much higher than your average Huntsman or Huntress. The threat classification goes from zero to ten, with Alpha being the level an individual with an unlocked Aura is classed at, then Theta, which is a dangerous, Aura-empowered criminal, then Omega."

Before Sol could argue, the scroll on the wall spoke up, the television deactivating at the same time.

"Sir," the scroll began, "it is getting late. I would suggest that you and your partner get your rest." Charlie nodded.

"Thanks, TAI. set the alarm for eight o'clock please."

"Understood, sir. Alarm set. Monitoring program active. I will warn you if something occurs."

"Knowing Ruby like I do, it will," Charlie muttered, switching off the lights as the two of them got into their beds.

—

 _Sirens wailing, growls filling the air, the smell of smoke in his nose, the tug of his sister's hand as he dragged her down the street. She was crying, letting the world know her pain, but the world was cold, and cared not for the child who had lost her mother. He hoped she wouldn't remember this day, though the chances were that she would._

 _Mountain Glenn had fallen._

 _Grimm filled the street behind them, drawing ever nearer as he hoisted her onto his back, clenching his fist. The mark still glowed on his palm._

—

Nemesis closed his black-and-red Scroll, disconnecting it from Beacon's security network.

"You grow ever more interesting, don't you, Charles?" he murmured to himself. The flutter of large wings caught his attention, and he turned to face the massive man with flame-red wings.

"I should have known I would find you here, Nemesis," the man spoke, alighting on the rooftop without a sound. "Whose life have you taken it upon yourself to ruin this time?"

Nemesis sighed.

"Ashwood, you know that though our methods differ, our goals are the same! Humanity deserves its evolution, but nothing evolves alone! place a cell in an isolated petri dish and it devolves for lack of competition. Then reintroduce it to its original environment, and it goes extinct! Humanity needs a struggle - and the Grimm are not the right kind. Nor were the Titans, or the Forerunners, or even the Flood. That is why I fought those things. That is why I fight the Grimm! But even so, solving this problem for them would serve no purpose! spoon feed them and they will never feed themselves! Evolution is an arms race. And I?" He removed his golden sunglasses, revealing irises of flickering flames. "I am the competition."

—

Despite the Artificial Intelligence's advice, Sol was not asleep. Instead he was recalling the runes he had cast not two hours before.

 _The first runes he had cast were Sol and_ Úr _, both connected by_ Naudr _. Sol, his own runemark, and_ Úr _, the Mighty Ox, which signified strength. He could only interpret this as symbolic of his partnership with Charlie. He needed better information than this. He drew the shapes of_ Ós _crossed with_ Bjarkán _, then_ Madr _crossed with_ Yr _, broken. He held his question in his mind._

 _"Who is it that seeks to break the protectors of Humanity and Faunus-kind?" The answer was as cryptic as one could get._

Ós _crossed with_ Sol _,_ Ós _crossed with Isa,_ Ós _crossed with_ Ár _, broken_ Ós _crossed with_ Naudr _, and both of these crossed with Madr. Ós was only used like this to refer to those related to divine beings, likely priests or priestesses. The runes nudged his mind here. All four were definitely female. Priestess of the sun, priestess of ice, priestess of plentiful food and a broken priestess of death? He cast_ Bjarkán _over the runes. Unlike usual, however, the runes took this opportunity to rearrange themselves. Only the broken_ Ós _crossed with_ Naudr _, and both of these crossed with_ Madr _, remained._

 _"The one who broke the priestess of the season of death…" he murmured. Then they rearranged a second time. This raised all sorts of alarms to Sol. The runes only rearranged when dangerous information had to be known. To rearrange twice? Unthinkable. Until now._

Iar _,_ Madr _, both touching_ Aesk _, near to a rune which had formed from a combination of_ Perth _and_ Hagall _. The builder and mankind linked by the ash tree, fast approaching a risk of destruction. He quickly wrote all of this down._

Sol snapped his fingers, calling a marble of light in the form of _Sol_ , which allowed him to read the note which had somehow managed to write itself using calligraphy.

 _The Sun and the Ox, united till Death._

 _The Holy Sun, the Holy Ice, the Holy Plenty, the broken Holy Death._

 _The being who broke the Holy Death seeks to break the protectors of Humanity and Faunus-kind._

 _The builder and mankind across the Ash Tree, approach a high risk of destruction._

Of course, he could only interpret the first two lines properly. The remainder was beyond him. All he knew from this prophecy was that either he or Charlie would die. And Sol's power was not that strong - whatever would happen, would happen this year.


	8. Classes, Day One

Theme:

AoT - Attack On Titan Instrumental Theme

Where there is smoke,

There will soon be a fire!

 _(Where there's smoke there'll soon be fire) X4_

Where there's smoke there'll soon be fire,

Play with fire and you will be burned.

Hidden behind dark blue gauntlets,

Guardian of the innocent.

Even his great Aura may fade,

Grimm attack and darkness closes.

Where there's smoke there'll soon be fire,

Play with fire and you will be burned.

Beware, he will take you down,

With a punch,

Or a kick,

Or a thrown shuriken!

Even although he holds himself back,

He is a force to be reckoned with!

(skip to 02:32)

Where there is smoke there will soon be a fire,

Play with the flames and you will be burned,

Go all out or you're,

All far too easy,

He strikes as hard as a

COMET!

Where there is smoke there will soon be a fire,

Play with the flames and you will be burned,

Go all out or you're,

All far too easy,

He strikes as hard as a

COMET!

Where there is smoke there will soon be a fire,

Play with the flames and you will be burned,

Go all out or you're,

All far too easy,

He will take you all down!

 _(Where there's smoke there'll soon be fire) X7_

 _(Play with it, you'll burn!)_

—

Charlie and Sol sat in the lecture theatre, Sol with a straight-backed posture, his pen poised for note taking, while Charlie watched the clock with his foot tapping on the floor. At the exact moment that the clock ticked over to the beginning of the lesson and the bell rang, the theatre door slammed open to admit eight students. Charlie sighed as he saw his sisters among them. _Punctuality at its finest,_ he thought. Ruby sheepishly sat next to him, her teammates taking the remaining places in their row.

"Reason?" he asked. Ruby knew exactly what he meant.

"We kinda spent the morning decorating our dorm room," she responded, ducking her head. Charlie shook his head.

"Well you were technically on time, so I'll let you off this time, but try to focus on school-relate things instead of decorating." She nodded. Professor Port began to address the class.

"Monsters! Demons! Prowlers of the night! Yes, the creatures of Grimm have many names, but me? I simply refer to them as prey!" he paused, giving a short laugh and clearly expecting some kind of response from the class. Getting none, he immediately lost some of his momentum, but continued nonetheless.

"Uhhhh... And you shall too, upon graduating from this prestigious academy! Now, as I was saying: Vale, as well as the other three kingdoms, are safe havens in an otherwise treacherous world! Our planet is absolutely teeming with creatures that would love nothing more than to tear you to pieces! And that's where we come in. Huntsmen! Huntresses..." he winked at Yang, causing her to groan uncomfortably as Charlie began to plan the man's demise.

"Individuals who have sworn to protect those who cannot protect themselves! From what, you ask? Why, the very world!"

At that moment, a very strange student stood up from the back rows of the theatre, proclaiming "Ayyy-yep!"

The entire class stared at him awkwardly as he sat back down.

"That," Port proclaimed, "is what you are training to become. But first: A story. A tale of a young, handsome man... Me! When I was a boy…" Charlie tuned out the man's self-promoting story as he focussed instead on Ruby. Charlie himself had an excuse to not focus on the class. Everything Port could say about his subject, Charlie already knew. What was most important here was Ruby's lack of focus on the class, since she hadn't studied every known Grimm from both video footage and written texts on the subjects. Ruby held up her simplistic drawing to show her teammates, a cheeky grin on her face. Yang and Blake laughed, but Weiss was fuming. Charlie elbowed his sister, calling her name to get her attention.

"What is it, Charlie?" she asked innocently.

"Focus on the class, Ruby," he ordered, "You still have a lot to learn about the Grimm."

"Ah-heh-hem!" Port cleared his throat, regaining their attention. "In the end, the Beowolf was no match for my sheer tenacity, and I returned to my village with the beast in captivity and my head held high, celebrated as a hero! The moral of this story? A true Huntsman must be honourable! A true Huntsman must be dependable! A true Huntsman must be strategic, well-educated, and wise! So, who among you believes themselves to be the embodiment of these traits?" In another timeline, one without Charlie, Weiss would have volunteered. Instead, Charlie raised his hand with a casual "yo."

"Well, then, let's find out!" He turned to gesture at a cage sitting next to him on the stage. _Wait, where did that come from?_ "Step forward, and face your opponent!" Charlie shrugged, sliding off of the bench. "Perhaps you should take a moment to change into your combat attire and retrieve your weapon?" Port suggested as he approached. Charlie shook his head.

"I've trained myself to fight without a weapon predominantly, and my combat attire is nothing special in terms of tactical advantage. There's no need."

"Ha-hah!" Port laughed, "The rare Huntsman who prepares himself for any situation! Very well, unarmed and unarmored it shall be!" Weiss leaned over to Ruby, forgetting her beef with the girl for a moment to whisper a concerned question.

"Will he be alright? This _is_ a creature of Grimm he's going to be fighting." Ruby actually laughed softly at that.

"Charlie's taken down Apocalypse-class Grimm before. They're the only type of opponent he actually draws his sword on. Anything else he just beats down with his bare hands - and his tattoos of course."

"Tattoos?"

"You'll see~" Ruby singsonged back as Port raised his axe. The class was filled with whispers, most of them showing no faith in the boy who was currently looking to the untrained eye like an overconfident idiot. To the eye of Ren, however, the boy was not only alert, but actively searching for threats not only in the form of the creature in the cage before him but also in each and every student in the classroom. Yang cheered her brother on more than enough however.

"Goooo Charlie! Kick its ass!" on the stage, Charlie rolled his eyes, grinning, before settling into his Combat Initiator stance, which consisted of turning his body side-on to his target and raising his fists to chest height, easily allowing for the classic 'come on' taunt.

"One question before we begin, sir." Port chuckled.

"What is it, my boy?"

"How much collateral damage am I allowed?" Port actually let out a booming laugh.

"Anything that doesn't bring the building down on top of us!" Charlie's grin spread into a full-blown slasher smile.

"Prepare for the biggest first-day repair bill of your life, sir." Port laughed again, raising his axe/blunderbuss weapon.

"Let the match… begin!" he swung down, breaking open the cage's lock. The cage door dropped, revealing a lone Boarbatusk. Charlie's pupils expanded immediately as time seemed to stop.

 _Boarbatusk. A quadrupedal Average-class Grimm with many features associated with a boar, including cloven-feet, a line of hair sprouting from its spine, snub snout, and tusks. The Boarbatusk has four eyes, a series of plates along its back and on its thighs, and two extra sets of tusks, including two large curving tusks. However, their underside is comparatively under-protected and vulnerable, with little to no body armor or shielding._

 _The Boarbatusk mostly tends to charge directly at its target, relying on its massive tusks to grapple with opponents. However, it also has displayed the ability to spin forward along its spine. Based on my personal combat experience, it appears to be as intelligent as wild boars._

 _The Boarbatusk's upper body is heavily armored. It has demonstrated the ability to withstand stabbing and cutting attacks to its upper body from non-monomolecular-edged weapons without any apparent injury. Despite the Boarbatusk's heavy armor around its body, its underside has little to no armor and is the Grimm's only apparent weak point. As a result, it is completely defenseless when on its back and is easily dispatched in this position._

 _The Boarbatusk is completely focussed on me. It will not be targeting any other individuals unless it dispatches me first. My unarmed state will lull it into a false sense of security, meaning it will not use its spin attack and will instead charge directly at me. At this point, I dodge to the left, blasting it into the classroom's back wall. Such an attack will leave it disoriented. Take advantage. Go for the kill._

Time returned to its normal pace as the Boarbatusk charged just as Charlie predicted. He spun to his left, making sure to throw a punch at it as it passed. A wave of purple energy rushed toward the boarlike Grimm with a sound like a far-off explosion, hurling it into the back wall and ruining the poster of a Boarbatusk while narrowly missing the bust of Port. The entire class fell silent as the Boarbatusk staggered away from the wall. Charlie was having none of it. He triggered his foot tattoos, blasting forward and uppercutting the creature before it had a chance to recover. It landed on its back, at which point he blasted himself upward, cocking his fist and bringing it down as he fell to show off his signature move - the Comet Strike. His fist broke the creature's skin before a wave of Force Dust energy blasted outward, ripping the boarlike creature into several bloody pieces which quickly dissolved.

Weiss's jaw hit the floor as Blakes eyes widened. Ruby just sat back smugly as Yang cheered.

"And _that_ is how you kill a Grimm!" the blonde brawler proclaimed. Charlie grinned, brushing a stone from the absolutely pulverised floor off his shoulder.

"Bravo! Bra-vo!" Port applauded, actually finding himself impressed by something _other_ than his moustache. "It appears we are indeed in the presence of a true Huntsman-in-training! I'm afraid that's all the time we have for today. Be sure to cover the assigned readings, and... stay vigilant! Class dismissed!"

Weiss turned to Ruby. "Force Dust _tattoos_!?" Ruby shook her head in response.

"Actually, it's Bonding Dust. He can load them with any kind of Dust and use it in combat. He just uses Force Dust because it gives him the option to avoid killing, and because it boosts his strength."

"Who performed the procedure?" the white-themed girl questioned as the pair left the classroom. Ruby let out a nervous chuckle.

"We really didn't want him to go through with it, and dad told him he wouldn't pay for it, so he kind of… did it himself with a scalpel."

" _What!?_ " the heiress screeched "Is he _insane!?_ " Ruby shook her head.

"He's… _really_ dedicated to his self-appointed task in life." Weiss cocked her head at his response.

"What task?" Ruby sighed.

"Me. Keeping me safe and killing anything that would hurt me. It's kinda sweet and all, but he literally _cannot_ stop doing it. He swore on his soul that he would, and his own Aura is what drives him to keep that oath. To deny it would be to commit suicide."

"That's…"

"Really counterproductive to me becoming a good Huntress? Yeah. That doesn't mean I'm gonna stop trying, though! he's been training me in his style of fighting too! Obviously I'll never master it - no one can but Charlie, for obvious reasons, but-"

"Wait, why can't someone just get the same tattoos and train really hard at it?"

"Because the style - which Charlie calls the 'all-purpose ass-whupping' by the way - doesn't rely on the tattoos, or his sword, or anything else except the mind of the practitioner. And Charlie's Semblance. So I only have one half of the prerequisites."

"I see."

"The main thing he's taught me, though, is how to read people. And I can tell you don't like me." Weiss scowled at her leader.

"It's not that I don't like you, it's just that I don't think you deserve to be the leader of team RWBY." Ruby shook her head. "Lie." Weiss stopped as her leader gave her one-word response. Ruby actually kept going for a few steps before she realised.

"Alright, fine," the white-themed heiress sighed. "I've been trained to lead for years. I know everything there is to know about tactics, team compositions, positioning, and so on and so forth. Yet Ozpin chose you, a fifteen year old _child_ , to lead the team!" Weiss's voice had been rising in pitch and volume as she spoke, resulting in her screeching the final words.

"Because you haven't named anything to do with leading," another voice spoke up as another figure caught up to them. The girls turned to see Charlie, stowing a partially emptied phial of purple Dust in his pocket.

"What do you mean?" Weiss asked, trying to reign in her temper.

"A leader isn't always a thinker. Who is the majority likely to follow, the one who plans, or the one who _does_?"

"I don't understand what you-"

"Ruby has a natural charisma which, when combined with her dedication to her teammates and friends, results in an almost magnetic attraction and unshakable belief that she will get the job done. Let me ask this: How would _you_ have taken down the Nevermore? Or better yet, if you had come up with the same plan, would Ruby, Blake and Yang have gone with it?"

"Well…"

"Probably not, because, quite frankly, that plan was completely unorthodox and utterly insane. And yet Ruby had confidence that it would work. If Yang or blake had suggested it, would you have felt as confident as you did?"

"No."

"And there you have it. Her confidence in herself and her allies is infectious, which allows the team to fight better as a cohesive unit. If you really need a role other than 'teammate', try 'strategist'. Trust me, while the leaders are out giving speeches and winning battles, it's the strategists who win wars."

"And what role do you serve in your own team, Charles?" Charlie sighed.

"Neither Sol nor I are natural leaders - Sol had difficulty finding the right direction in the forest, let alone leading us to the right place, and I quite honestly work better alone and against large numbers. Neither of us really _has_ a role yet due to this, while I can immediately identify roles for all four members of both RWBY and JNPR. Ruby is the leader and inspiration, the first to enter the fight and the last one out Her speed makes her ideal for weakening stronger opponents, while her scythe allows her to defeat weaker opponents outright. If necessary she can use Crescent Rose's inbuilt sniper rifle to deal massive damage from afar with deadly accuracy, and her special Force Dust rounds allow her to fire herself across the battlefield at ridiculous velocities. Overall, she focusses on speed and heavy hitting. Blake excels at keeping her opponents on the back foot - I've seen the footage of the Nevermore, and her shadow clones are useful both for mobility and evasion. Her weapon allows for versatility both in offence and mobility, though in some forms it trades defensive potential for this advantage. She is an ideal scout or rogue-type fighter. Yang is almost exclusively an up close and personal fighter, hitting hard and fast. Her damage potential is higher than any other member of the team, but her flares are her only ranged option, and they take time to load, meaning she is vulnerable when changing tactics. On the other hand, she gets stronger with every strike she takes above a certain force threshold, meaning she ignores defence entirely, relying on her powerful Semblance to get her through a fight. I do not recommend she be allowed to fight any opponent who might make themselves hard to hit. Finally, you. You, Weiss, have the weakest damage output of your entire team. This is not a bad thing!" he raised his voice and his hand to forestall her outburst. "Dealing less damage is not a disadvantage here. Your skill set is not based in defeating all opponents that come at you. Your role is that of a supporting unit. With your Dust and your glyphs, you can both empower your allies and debilitate your foes, preventing enemies from overwhelming your position. By thinking tactically and providing on-the-spot advice to your leader, you can turn the tide of battle with a few words, a well-placed ice bolt, or even a glyph granting your allies abilities beyond their own. Case in point; the Nevermore. Your abilities were the lynchpin of that strategy. Without your glyphs, Ruby could not have placed herself in that position, nor would she have been able to stay attached to that cliff face for the period of time required to decapitate the creature. Together, the four of you managed to take down a SuperUber-class Grimm - that's only one tier below the Burrower I eliminated."

"And what makes you so much more powerful than an entire army?" Weiss asked, frowning as he reminded her of how he had shown up every other person in the Initiation.

"It's not a matter of power. Killing a Burrower takes a lot of accuracy, and the right tool for the job. I had both. That doesn't mean I am invincible - just damn close." With that, Charlie turned on his heel, heading for his next class - history.

—

As soon as he opened the door, he was met face-to-face with Doctor Oobleck. The man had clearly attempted to dress respectably, but gave off the appearance of having just got out of bed - his shirt was half-untucked, his tie was loose, one of his pockets was inside out, and his hair was an utter bird's nest. His eyes were hidden behind his opaque glasses.

"Good-morning!" the man declared, his voice loud enough to cause the normally expressionless Charlie to wince. "Since-this-is-your-first-day-of-class-I-will-forgive-your-tardiness-but-I-will-not-be-so-lenient-next-time-what-is-your-name?" Charlie blinked, his irises reappearing from behind his expanded pupils as he deactivated his Semblance, which he had turned on at low power to keep up with the man's speech speed. He opened his mouth to speak, but Oobleck interrupted him.

"Wait-wait-I have-it! Charles-Xiao-Long-first-year-leader-of-team-Colossal-and-the-individual-who-managed-to-slay-a-Burrower-during-his-Initiation! Take-your-seat-next-to-mister-Lux-mister-Xiao-Long-you-are-lucky-I-have-not-covered-anything-major-yet-or-I-would-assign-you-extra-readings!" Charlie sighed as he made his way to his seat. Doctor Oobleck was interesting, certainly, but not because of his subject. Oobleck was interesting because of his Semblance.

Time distortion.


End file.
